The Key
by mickelus
Summary: Willow goes to the coven soon after her and Dawn's car wreck. Dawn has serious issues to contemplate. Buffy and Tara got together soon after the Tabula Rasa incident. Prologue set in season 6 rest of the story is season 7 with a few changes.
1. Prologue

**A/N:** This story is based on an idea I had I filed away and forgot about. Then the other day I stumbled across it again and decided to see how it turned out. Hope y'all like it.

**Prologue**

When Dawn woke up that morning she did not know what to expect or even what she thought of the situation the group she considered her family found themselves in. So much had happened in the last few weeks. Willow and Tara had broken up, Willow had fallen deeper into the black magic scene, Tara had hooked up, and Dawn had honestly been shocked by this, with Buffy. Dawn hadn't even known Buffy, her older sister and guardian, liked women like that, I guess we have something in common after all, she thought as a small smile worked its way across her full lips. Buffy and Tara getting together was pretty much the only good in recent weeks. She had gotten caught stealing and was now working on paying back the stores she had ripped off. As well as Buffy now finally becoming involved in her life, Better late than never I guess, Dawns says to herself.

Things with Willow had finally come to a head a few days ago when Willow, who had been left with watching Dawn, practically no privacy when your sisters catches you committing a crime, had taken the younger girl with her to get her fix from a magic dealer named Rack. When all was said and done that night Dawn and Willow had nearly been killed by a demon, Dawn got a broken arm and a mild concussion from a car wreck, Willow found herself in danger of losing all her friends, Xander, Tara, Anya, and Buffy were extremely pissed at her for endangering Dawn. In fact if it hadn't been for a long conversation full of much debate and some begging on Dawn's part, Buffy would've kicked Willow out. After a couple hours of arguing, begging, and reasoning Dawn had convinced Buffy that as long as Willow was truly seeking help that they shouldn't push her away.

The real reason she had fought so hard on Willows behalf was due to some other things that had happened that night. Willow claimed to not remember anything between arriving at Rack's and the car crash, which may be true, but Dawn had a feeling that the redhead knew something else had happened between them. It wasn't anything inherently bad or evil or anything like that. It was actually something that had crossed Dawn's mind more and more frequently over last several months. She had felt things before when she had caught herself staring at various people, both male and female, but recently Dawn's dreams had been invaded by a certain red haired witch that she could not stop thinking about. She knew that nothing could happen between them for several reasons. With one of those reasons being Dawn being underage, she knew that was a line Willow would refuse to cross, assuming the witch felt the same way.

The youngest Summers girl was torn as to whether she should tell someone what she was going through or if it would be better to allow things to run their course. She knew it was not the right time to say anything to Willow and Buffy would most likely freak and turn more of her anger toward Willow, Xander would space out with his mind wandering to naughty places, Giles would hem and haw and furiously clean his glasses, Anya would somehow make the conversation about either money or orgasms. That left Tara, Dawn had grown close to the blonde witch over the last couple years, she had really become like a sister and surrogate mother and if Buffy managed to not fuck things up maybe sister-inlaw. The problem was Willow being Tara's ex and Dawn had no clue as to how her sister's girlfriend would react. Though she knew Tara had a kind and caring soul, she had even been able to forgive Willow for her mental rape, but Dawn could not help the nervousness she felt building up inside.

What bugged Dawn the most was that Willow had been strung out on the dark magic when she had kissed her. It hadn't gone further than just a kiss partly because of the demon that started chasing them and also because Dawn did not want to take advantage of Willow in that situation. She was having trouble not feeling bad about having kissed the witch when she was not fully in control of herself. Sighing and forcing those conflicting thoughts and emotion to the back burner for the time being as she made her way downstairs Buffy and Tara were still asleep and Willow had not left her room for the past week. So Dawn was somewhat surprised to see the Jewess sitting on a stool in the kitchen apparently staring at the wall. Dawn quietly took in the woman before her it was obvious that the redhead had not slept well with the bags and dark circles under her eyes. As she stood in the kitchen doorway she noticed how drawn Willow's face had become.

Seating herself on a stool across from the redhead, "Hey Willow. How you doing?" asked Dawn a little worried over the witch's appearance.

"Oh! Good morning Dawnie." Willow responded a little startled by the younger girl. "I'm doing, well not good, but better I think. I mean I came out of my room so that's a good sign right?" She ended with a half-hearted smile.

"Yep definitely of the good Will." Dawn replied as a smirk worked its way across her face. "Um, Willow I don't mean to overstep my bounds or anything like that, but when was the last time you ate something?"

Willow turned her head down to stare at the counter top, "Not since I almost killed you." She muttered so that Dawn barely hears her.

Dawn stepped away from her stool and went to the refrigerator and rummaged around for a few moments. "I'm not much of a cook so you'll have to settle for a bagel with cream cheese for now. I was planning on having Tara teach me how to cook, but that'll probably have to wait until I get the cast removed."

Willow let out a whimper as Dawn said "cast" and just stared at the bagel set in front of her. Dawn sighed and sat next to Willow placing her uninjured hand gently on the back of Willow's hand. Raising her casted arm she cupped Willow's chin with her hand and turned the witch's head to look her in the eye, "Look Willow, I don't like how that night ended, I thought I was gonna go see a movie with a friend. No please don't start crying, let me finish or you'll start me crying, then we'll both end up being useless blubbering messes," she said as tears started forming in Willow's emerald eyes, quickly converting to a sad smile as Dawn continued, "I'm not going to say that I'm sorry for being mad at you cause I probly had a right to be, but I'm sorry I hit you, no matter what happened I shouldn't have slapped you. I'm still kinda confused as to what's gonna happen now and I hope you do seek out help, but I do know this, I don't want to lose you as a friend. Right now it's still difficult because it's fresh in my mind and I still haven't sorted everything out yet, but I hope to be able to forgive you in the near future. Remember that even though we haven't mended everything yet I'll still be here if you need me." Dawn finished placing a gentle kiss on Willow's forehead.

Willow just sat there quietly thinking over everything little Dawnie had said, _Not really such a little girl anymore. She's really matured a lot, in more ways than one…Whoa there Rosenberg! Let's stop that train of thought before it gets started we're talking serious trouble if you go down that road, I mean hello jailbait, plus the fact that she's your best friends little sister and said best friend happens to be the slayer and good God I even babble in my thoughts._ The red head thought to herself as she watched Dawn fix herself something to eat, noticing for the first time how Dawn had started to fill out. Shuddering as her body began to heat up she forced those thoughts out of her mind. _I think from now on I'm going to have to make sure Dawn and I aren't alone together. Damn couldn't these feelings have stayed away for a couple more years?_ "You've obviously been hanging out with Tara a lot; you've taken on her caring attitude." Willow said as she took a bite out of her bagel.

Dawn walked over leaning in close to the red witch, "Or maybe I'm just growing up." She said softly in Willow's ear. Causing the Wiccan's breath to catch and her eyes to close, "So do you know what you're going to do to get the magic under control?" Dawn asked as she took a bite out of a blueberry pop tart after taking her seat across the island from Willow.

Willow slowly opened her eyes as she tried to calm her senses and re-center herself. Looking at the teenager sitting across from her, "Well I have a few options, I could stay here and have Tara try to help me, but there are obvious problem of possible emotional control issues, I could have a group of witches completely remove my ability to do magic, but my chances of surviving that are slim so that would be a last resort, I think my best bet is to get training from a coven. I've actually been in contact with Giles recently and he told me that the coven in Devon offered to take me in."

Dawn nodded quietly as she listened to all Willow said, "I agree you should probably take the coven up on their offer. Devon is in England right?" Willow nodded, "We'll definitely miss you while you're gone Will. Do you know how long you'd be there?"

"I dunno for sure Dawnie," Willow shrugged, "probably at the shortest by the end of the upcoming summer."

Dawn felts a bit sad realizing she wouldn't see her friend for quite a while. "Well you better make sure to write and definitely call if you can. Otherwise I'll kick your ass when you get back. Do you know when you're leaving?"

"Giles said he could have the ticket ready as soon as I decided to go. So I think I'll leave tell him to arrange it for Saturday. That'll give me a few days to say goodbye to everyone."

Dawn suddenly dashed around the island and quickly hugged Willow, "I know we still have some things to work out, most likely after you get back, but I can't let you leave without knowing I forgive you. Kinda funny all it took was hearing that you were serious about getting help."

"I fucked up so much Dawnie. What I did to Tara, taking away her memories, I won't blame her if she can never forgive me. Then the tabula rasa spell, that could've been so bad, I honestly believed I was doing the right thing then, yes I was selfish for trying to make Tara forget, but I wanted to take away Buffy's memory of being in heaven, cause I know that's affected her attitude toward everyone since I brought her back. Then I almost killed you the other night. Goddess Dawn I've been so foolish, I'm so sorry." Willow cries as she finally breaks down in Dawn's arms.

Dawn stood there holding the witch tightly stroking her hand through Willow's hair and telling her over and over that it's going to be okay and that she forgives her. She looked up and saw Buffy and Tara standing in the kitchen doorway with tears in their eyes.

Saturday came all too quickly for the group of friends in Sunnydale. Even Spike was a little sad to see the red head leave, not that he would let any of the Scoobies see him emit any emotion aside from anger. Dawn, Buffy, Willow, Tara, and even Anya were all huddled together hugging and crying. Xander apparently had something in his eyes and was rubbing them furiously to get it out and Giles was violently scrubbing his already clean glasses. It had been decided at a Scooby meeting after Willow's conversation with Dawn, a Scooby meeting that Dawn had officially been invited to as a full-fledged member that Giles would go with Willow to the coven so there would be someone that she was familiar with. Finally all the goodbyes were said and the luggage was loaded as Giles and Willow climbed into the rental car. "Bye guys I'll miss you all. Hopefully I'll be back at the end of the summer!" Willow yelled out the window with a final wave as the car went around the corner and out of sight.

The group all stood there on the sidewalk for a few moments, except for Spike who was confined by the sun to the porch. Eventually they went back to their normal Saturday activities. Xander and Anya went to do business at the Magic Box. Spike grabbed a blanket and took off running back to his crypt. Buffy, Dawn, and Tara walked quietly back into the house. "Do you have to work today Buffy?" Dawn asked as she flopped down onto the couch.

"Yeah." Buffy sighed, "But I can call in sick and stay if you want me to be around today."

"No, that's okay I just wanna stay informed of what's going on. You know I hate being left in the dark."

"I know Dawn." Buffy responded sitting next to her sister and looking to Tara who gave her a nod. "I know I haven't been here for you like I should have been and I know that people give me an out for how I've acted since I was brought back from heaven. And while I realize that as good an excuse as that may be I don't wanna be a person who lives their life with an excuse for everything that they do. I want you to know that from now on I am going to be there for you whether you need a shoulder to cry on, if you need advice, if you need someone to vent to, or even if you need a punching bag every now and then, no matter what Dawnie. When I thought about it I realized that there are many people out there worse off than me. Sure I'm the slayer, I have to work a crappy job to pay the bills and I need to take care of my sister, which in itself is huge choir." She said nudging Dawn playfully with her shoulder, "But there are people out there going through college, working multiple jobs, and raising newborn babies on their own. I have it so easy compared to them, I have a great group of friends, who have been there with me through so much, a father figure who has done so much more for me, for us than dad ever did, I have a wonderful girlfriend who has helped me see where I've gone wrong and showed me how to make things right again," she glanced at Tara with a smile before turning back to Dawn, "and maybe most importantly I have a wonderful sister who despite my many fuck-ups is turning out to be an amazing young woman and even though there were times when she probably should have she didn't clock me upside the head with a baseball bat for my mistakes." No sooner did she finish speaking than Dawn tackled her backwards on the couch in a vice-like hug.

"Well I certainly didn't make things easy. I'm just glad you didn't give up on me over all the stealing. Don't just stand over there Tara get in here." Said Dawn pulling the blonde Wiccan into the hug.

After Buffy had left for her shift at the Double Meat Palace, Dawn and Tara went about doing whatever chores they could find to keep themselves busy. Eventually Dawn found herself standing in place thinking about Willow. Tara walked in the room after observing Dawn rooted in place for a few moments. "What are you thinking about sweetie?" asked the blonde witch. Cause the tall brunette to jump in surprise. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

"That's okay; I guess I just spaced out a bit."

"Yeah you seemed to be lost in thought. Anything you wanna talk about?" Tara asked hopefully.

The former ball of energy sighs letting her shoulders sag a little, "In a way I do, but I don't know how it'll change things. I mean if things change a certain way it would be so cool, but there are so many other ways it could go. I'm not even sure how you'll react."

Tara sat on the couch worriedly, motioning for Dawn to do the same, steeling herself and hoping she can handle whatever it is the girl has to say, "It sounds to me like this is something you NEED to talk about, but I'm not gonna force it out of you. So whenever you're ready I'll be ready to listen." She said placing her hand reassuringly on Dawn's knee.

"Okay just promise you'll save any freaking out until I've said everything I need to." Once Tara nodded Dawn continued, "Well I guess it really starts with something not so bad. I mean I'm sixteen so of course I'm going to be attracted to people right? Well I thought it was just that cause I've had thoughts about all my friends really, Xander, Willow, even Anya, and you too." Dawn blushed a deep shade of red as did Tara, "But lately one of my...attractions? ...infatuations? Anyway it's gone beyond that and the thing is on top of not knowing how this person feels I don't know how the rest of you will feel about the possibility of me being with them, more so than the normal nervousness."

"Dawn I don't know what I can say to alleviate your fears, but I promise to do my best to accept whatever you tell me." Tara said with a caring smile on her face.

"Okay, now this is the part where you need to hold back the possible freak out. The person I have these feelings for…it's…it's Willow. And before you say anything, she hasn't done anything that could be considered inappropriate, aside from taking me when she went to see her dealer, and I've tried ignoring how I feel thinking it was just a typical teenage infatuation, but the night my arm got broken before we got in the car, we were walking down an alley talking, surprisingly she was able hold a decent conversation. Anyway I know it was wrong and probably taking advantage but I pushed against a wall and kissed her. Don't worry it was just a kiss, not even any tongue. But it was the most amazing thing I've ever felt. The biggest problems I'm facing is the fact I'm underage, she was out of it and I don't think she remembers the kiss, I don't know how she feels, and on top of that I have a feeling that Buffy is gonna be majorly wigged." Dawn finally got it all out then just sat and waited for Tara to process it all.

Tara sat there with her eyes closed as she took in every word that Dawn said. Her first instinct was to be angry at Willow, but that passed quickly as she sensed the truth in Dawn's words that Willow hadn't done anything wrong. Then she realized that there was really no reason for her to be against it. "Oh Dawnie," She said looking the teenager in the eye, "I see no reason to stand against this. Obviously you need to find out if your feelings are returned from Willow, but first you need to talk to Buffy and I agree that she'll probably freak. However since you're still a minor, things can turn out bad, mainly for willow, if you try to see her without Buffy being in the know. If you want I'll be there with you when you talk to your sister."

Dawn sat and just nodded not convinced that things were going to go well. Seeing the look on the young woman's face and sensing the unease coming from her Tara tried to reassure her that it would not be as bad as she feared, "Look Dawnie it really will be alright. If it's meant to happen it will."

Three weeks later Buffy was still somewhat unsure how she felt about what Dawn had told her. On one hand she had the whole big sister vibe that told her to protect Dawn from people that could potentially hurt her whether intentionally or not. On the other hand if this was really what Dawn wanted…She picked up the phone her mind made up, "Do it. Now."

As soon as she finished speaking Buffy found herself in a dimly lit musty smelling room, with the three witches that transported her there. "Where is she?"

"Outside in the garden." Replied one of the three. "She really has been doing well Miss Summers. She should be ready to return to you by the end of summer."

The slayer paused on her way out the door and gave the witches a slight nod then continued out to the garden. Finding Willow sitting cross-legged in a sunny corner of the garden, meditating among the flowers. She stood there watching her friend for a while basking in the warm sun. "Are you just gonna stand there and stare, or are you gonna say hello to your best friend?" Willow asked still facing away from Buffy with her eyes closed.

"Okay Wills, that's just freaky. How'd you know I was here?" Buffy responded with a question of her own.

"Meditation Buffster. It does wonders. So what brings you to jolly old England?"

"I came to see how my best friend was coming along in her training of course. Plus there's something else we need to talk about."


	2. Home Sweet Home

**A/N:** Ok so the feedback I've gotten thus far for this story has been positive so I decided to go ahead and continue it. I'm still not sure if this is gonna be completely alternate universe where things are completely different from the show when Willow comes back, or if I wanna try and stay as close to canon as possible. I guess we'll find out as we go along. Oh and by the way, just so I don't get caught up try to make it period correct I'm going to write this assuming it happened like yesterday. So no scathing comments telling me I got the technology wrong. Angel is okay with Buffy and Tara's relationship, there are still going to be issues concerning Spike so...still some drama on that front

**Chapter 1**

(Sunnydale California, USA, Summers' Residence)

Soon after Willow had left for the coven in Devon Buffy began to make good on her promise to be more involved in Dawn's life, even going so far as to quit the DMP and taking over the ownership of a small dojo in town (with major financial backing from Willow, Xander, Anya, and Giles) teaching self-defense. Tara, having sensed long ago the vast potential of Dawn's magical power, probably a side effect of her being The Key, finally convinced Buffy to let her train the teenager. In their first lesson Tara performed an in-depth aura reading on Dawn, which led her to discover that though the youngest Summers girl was not a slayer she did possess all the same abilities, just at a lower level. Her strength, though less than a vampires was on about the same level as that of the former Initiative soldiers with their steroids (i.e. Riley Finn). Her senses were heightened, but not as much as Buffy's or Faith's, and her speed was on about the same level as Angel and Spike. Other abilities that had presented themselves, and were attributed to The Key included eidetic memory, inhumanly high IQ and an inane ability to quickly master languages. Just over the last month she had become fluent in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Greek (ancient and modern), Russian, Romani, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Japanese, Cantonese, and Mandarin. As well as having learned Sumerian, Turkish, and Latin the year before.

She was working on learning her next languages, Arabic and Hebrew, trying to make her way through the rest of the Eurasia supercontinent, so to speak, when Buffy came home from another day at the dojo. The gang had discovered recently that while growing up Tara's mom had taught the blonde witch Muay Thai and Aikido, after she had gotten away from the rest of her family she had stopped in LA for a while and Trained in Krav Maga on top of what she had already learned, so Buffy actually ran two classes at her studio, the self-defense class, Krav Maga, taught by Tara and the class for any interested, Kempo Karate, which she herself taught. "Tara still at the college?" Buffy asked leaning against the doorway to Dawn's room.

Dawn looked up from her book smiling at her sister, things had really become good between them lately, "Yeah, Buffy she called a little bit ago and told me she'd probably be there for another hour. How did your classes go, any troublemakers this time?"

"No everything went smoothly today. How bout you how was Dawnie's day of learning the ways of Wicca and studying languages?"

"You know Tara doesn't want me to do any witchy studying on my own just yet." Replied Dawn with a smirk, "Though I did do some meditation earlier cause learning Arabic was giving me a headache, then I switched to Hebrew for a while, it's a little easier though not by much."

"Well don't work too hard; we still need to train later. Now the important question. It's Friday night, what do we wanna do for supper? Do we wanna go out, order in, or were you and Tara planning on cooking?"

"Hmm, well I dunno what Tara's gonna be in the mood for when she gets back, but I'm thinking we should go out. Maybe even invite Xander and Anya."

"Sounds like a good plan Dawn I'll text Tara and see what she thinks. Then call Xander and invite them." Buffy said as she walked to her and Tara's room to make the arrangements then went to take a shower.

Dawn made to go back to studying, but when she looked at the markings in the book they looked like they were writhing all over the page, _I'm gonna take that as a sign from either the Goddess, the PTB, or some other Higher Being that it's time to quit for the day._ She closed the book and straightened up her desk before moving to sit cross legged on her bed to meditate for a few minutes to fight off the light-headedness and the headache she felt building up. She wanted to be completely focused for her training session later. Buffy had been teaching her Kempo and she had convinced Tara to teach her Krav Maga as well and recently Xander had begun meditating regularly and it had enabled him to more easily access his soldier memories, which included master level training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and he was passing that knowledge on to the rest of the Scoobies. Xander had even made Anya take a class at the dojo, since she was busy taking care of things to do with the Magic Box at the time they normally trained.

Once Tara got home Dawn changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top and made her way downstairs and into back yard where she found Xander, Tara, Buffy, and making a rare appearance Anya all already waiting for her.

"Before you even have a chance to ask Anya is here because our Friday training sessions are going to be a bit different from now on. We train hard throughout the rest of the week and we need to have a day that we ensure that our muscles and joints get properly taken care of and stretched out, so Fridays we will be doing Yoga. And Anya is going to be our instructor" Buffy explained with a smirk before Dawn could even open her mouth.

"You know me so well big sis." Dawn replied. She was looking forward to learning something new from Anya.

While she could be brash and blunt about things and though she was obsessed with money and sex, Dawn had also found that she, unsurprisingly, had a wealth of information when it came to herbs, magical objects, historical event, and of course demonology, guess that's what happens when you spend over a thousand years as a vengeance demon. At first Dawn had thought, much like Buffy and Willow, that Anya was really only around cause they couldn't kill her and she was with Xander, but while she had been working off the debt she owed Anya, not for the stolen items because she returned those, but for the betrayal of their friendship she had begun to learn as much as she could from the ex-demon.

After just twenty minutes of doing a few different poses the Scoobies, bar Anya, were drenched in sweat with very shaky limbs, even Buffy. Finally after thirty minutes they had all collapsed while Anya went on for another fifteen minutes to finish the set. "Showoff!" exclaimed Dawn in mock anger which was ruined by the happy glint in her eyes, while she and the others relaxed and drank water and Gatorade.

"I love yoga Dawn. It keeps you lithe and flexible. And it's great for sex cause you can get many orgasms as it increases your stamina and overall flexibility, meaning you can utilize several positions." Dawn, Buffy, Tara and Xander all sprayed their drinks out of their mouths at Anya's explanation. Somewhat surprised at themselves that they weren't completely used to the strange woman yet. Once they had recovered enough everyone headed inside and took turns cleaning themselves up in the two showers before heading out to dinner.

(Devon Coven, Devon County England, UK)

"Rupert! Willow! Please come and have a seat! Can I get you something to drink? I have tea and water."

"Yes, I'll have a cup of tea, thank you Madam Abigail." Replied Giles. As he and Willow took the seats provided for them.

"Yes Ma'am I'll have some tea as well thank you." Added Willow.

Madam Abigail, after getting the drinks for her guests sat in her large leather chair behind the desk in her office. "I imagine the two of you are wondering why I called you here." Giles and Willow both nodded affirmation, "Well it seems that Willows mission for being here is nearly accomplished. She has shown great growth in her control and knowledge, as well as mastering the ability to shield herself from external forces that would try to influence her into dark magic. Basically Willow you no longer need to be here, unless you wished to remain here to study, but I have a feeling you would like to get back to your friends."

"You mean you really think I'm ready to go home?" Willow asked hopefully with tears welling up in her green eyes.

"Yes, child. Though there is always more that we could teach you, your reason for being here is fulfilled."

Willow was so happy with that news she barely resisted the urge to leap across the desk to hug the woman. Choosing instead to walk around the side and embrace Abigail in a more dignified manner. "Thank you so much. You and the brothers and sisters in the coven as well. I am honored that you all have allowed me to call you family."

"We are all so proud of you Willow and remember if you and your friends ever need anything, the witches and warlocks of Devon are happy to help." Said the leader of the coven as Willow pulled away wiping the tears away.

Turning to the misty-eyed tweed wearing man in the room, "Did you here that Giles? I can go home."

"Yes Willow I heard. I am proud of you as well my dear like a father seeing his daughter graduate." And with that he found himself wrapped in a rib crushing hug from the once again bubbly redhead.

After regaining her composure Willow began to think about how her friends would react to her return and about whether she should tell them, or let it be a surprise. "Before we go back though I think it's time I saw a little bit more of Europe. Cause it would be wrong to go home without presents for everyone. Plus Dawn's birthday is coming up soon."

"I don't see any issue with that Willow. Just let me know where you want to go first."

(Sunnydale California, USA, Summers' Residence)

Summer break was nearly over, but a return to school was the furthest thing from Dawn's mind. The last few months had been good for the entire Scooby gang; they had all grown as individuals and as a whole. The only downside was that Willow hadn't been there with them physically though they had been able to stay in contact via phone and email. Dawn's summer goal of mastering all the major languages of Europe and Asia had been met, she was coming along nicely in her Wicca lessons with Tara, and her fighting skills had improved to a point where when she and Buffy sparred the tall teenager was no longer the only combatant sore and bruised. The only thing really on Dawn's mind at this moment was that she was somewhat sad that willow wasn't going to be there for her birthday. Because today (August 25) was the day, one of the big ones, the "sweet sixteen" they called it.

It wasn't going to be anything too extravagant, Dawn did not expect, nor did she want, anything too over the top. As far as she knew it was going to be just her, Buffy, Tara, Xander, Anya, (and probably Spike) and her three friends she'd met during the last school year Kit, Amanda, and Carlos. When time for the party came everyone had shown up as expected, but somewhat to Dawn's surprise Buffy had also invited Angels crew from LA so Angel, Wesley, Gunn, Cordelia, and their newest member Winifred "Fred" Burkle. Dawn played a gracious hostess spending time with all her guests and ensuring they were all comfortable and had refreshments. Just when Buffy was going to suggest they serve the cake there was a knock at the door, which Spike answered, "Hey Lil Bit." Called the bleach blond vamp, "I think it's for you."

Dawn rounded the corner from the living room to the entry-way and let out a shriek the likes of which no one had heard from her since the ordeal with Glory as she leapt across the threshold knocking Spike out of the way, to wrap the two newcomers in a fierce hug.

"Uh…Dawnie. Oxygen kinda becoming an issue hon." Willow managed to squeak out.

"Quite right." Agreed Giles

"Oh my God you're here! How did you get here? Did Buffy know you were coming? Are you back for good or did they just let you come to visit? Damn now I'm babbling and can't stop to let you talk. Okay stopping now." The rest of barely contained their laughter and Dawn's string of words.

"Wow I haven't heard babbling that bad since I was the nerdy girl in high school. No, Buffy didn't know we were coming, we wanted to surprise everyone. Yes we're, well at least I'm back for good, I don't know what Giles' plans are. As for how…" Willow trailed off in her explanation as her gaze fell on Amanda, Kit, and Carlos.

"Don't worry Wills, their cool; they know about the things that go forehead bumpy in the night." Said Buffy following her best friend since high school's line of sight.

With a nod Willow continued, "Any way the coven teleported me and Giles here. We coulda been here a couple weeks ago, but first of all we wanted to make it a surprise for your birthday, and secondly I wanted to do a little bit of traveling in Europe to by souvenirs for my friends. And me being "always prepared girl" I even bought a few extras so I actually have enough for everyone here."

Once things had settled down a bit, cake had been eaten and gifts opened Willow had given everyone trinkets and knick-knacks from her travels the Scoobies and the LA gang stood in a group in front of Dawn. Buffy after thinking for a second turned to Willow placing something in her hand and whispering to her "This is from you as much as the rest of us, don't be upset cause yes we used some of the money from the "emergency" fund you set aside for us before you left. So here I want you to be the one to give her this."

Willow, somewhat nervously walks up to Dawn who had been talking with her high school friends, "Um hey Dawn, I guess there's one more present we have to give you. It's from all of us." Said the redhead guesturing to the group of people Dawn considered her family, Dawn not fully grasping what it could be raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "We realize that for a sixteen year old girl driving around in an old Jeep isn't exactly cool so here." Willow finished, stumbling over her words and extending her hand, from which dangled a set of car keys, toward Dawn who's eyes nearly bugged out of her head.

The young brunette nearly tackled Willow as she hugged her, _Hmm, Dawnie hugs. I could get used to this…she is really becoming womanly shaped…her breasts are…NO BAD WILLOW! Stop think of something else like her hips and thi…NO DAMMIT! Fine you pervy redhead just stop thinking for now!_ Willow though she kept body from stiffening at the unexpected thoughts she was most proud of herself for not letting her hands wander like they seemed to want to do. All to soon though the embrace was over while Dawn went to hug the rest of those that were there before racing outside to see her new car.

Everyone in the house followed her and Tara pressed the button to open the garage door, Buffy still wasn't allowed to drive, but she was learning, from Anya of all people. The excited teen bounced from one foot to the other as the door seemed to rise at an agonizingly slow rate when the door was up just enough to see there were two cars in the garage, Tara saw an opportunity to have a little fun and pushed the button to close the door. When the door began its journey back down Dawn whirled to glare at Tara who just stood there smirking while everyone else just laughed. Finally Tara re-opened the garage and Dawn mumbled something that sounded a lot like "wicked witch", which of course drew a fresh bout of laughter from the group. Once the door was finally opened, there next to the jeep that once belonged to Buffy and Dawn's now deceased mother, sat a new Audi A6 quatro.

After another squeal and a fresh round of hugs Dawn decided she wanted to go for a quick drive. Since she still only had her permit that meant someone had to go with her, she quickly insisted on Willow and Giles then whoever else wanted to go. So for Dawns first drive in her new car she had for passengers Willow, Giles, and Dawn's friend Amanda. When the group returned another group of three piled in and chauffer Dawn set off again. Eventually everyone started to leave and head home. Giles and his luggage were taken by Dawn, Angel, and Spike, since the sun had finally gone down so they could finally get a ride, to the apartment he had maintained while in Europe. Once back at the Summers residence Angel's crew said their goodbyes and headed back to LA and Spike left for his crypt. Finally all that remained were the Scooby gang, minus Giles, so Willow before going to the guest room, formerly Buffy's room, and now her room, handed out the more meaningful gifts she had brought with her. For Buffy she had an authentic Spartan sword and a Gladius, Xander got tactical gear and weapons used by the British SAS along with a "don't ask how I got it", Tara she gave a rare focus crystal, Anya was probably the most emotional about her gift because Willow had gone to the location of the village she had lived when she was known as Aud and had found a jewelry box and a stack of diaries that had belonged to her mother, for Dawn she had a spell book for healing and shielding spells, and a Celtic broadsword recovered from the ruins of the temple used by the Monks of Dagon.

When Dawn drew the sword from its sheath a surge of power went through her that was felt by everyone including Xander. It did two unexpected things, first it opened a link for Dawn to communicate with the Powers That Be and other higher powers including the gods of all pantheons, secondly it went through Xander and unlocked the spirit of the soldier and the hyena, but instead of allowing either free reign over his body they were fused by the magic of the sword and the Key with his own soul. Once the current of magic ran it's course Xander and Dawn were passed out on the floor.

Reacting quickly Willow and Tara checked their friends before having Buffy carry them to empty beds upstairs. "They're both okay," the witches informed everyone Tara continued, "And I think I know what happened, at least with Xander, but I think we should get Giles over hear so I only have to explain once."

An hour later the entire Scooby gang was once again gathered in the Summers' living room, after Xander and Dawn had woken up, the group had decided to include Spike as well. Tara began her explanation with what she thinks happened with Xander, "When the magical surge went through the room I believe that the Key, which is probably best explained now as being Dawn's subconscious mind, saw the remnants of the two spirits that had possessed Xander, and recognizing Xander a warrior for the good it performed some sort of spell that fused those spirits with Xander's own soul. Looking at him now I see in his aura, granted it's much more subdued than his actual self, but I see a powerful primal force as well as the partial aura of a second person. And before anyone ask, there is no danger of the hyena going on its chaos spree again, they are bound to Xander's soul meaning he has access to the benefit the other spirits provide, but he remains in control of himself." Xander and the others breathed a sigh of relief at hearing this.

"Hey should I be hearing voices right now, cause I swear someone is trying to talk to me?" asked the construction worker as he absorbed what Tara had just said.

"If the right spell was used, Xander you would be able to communicate with both spirits. At first it'll take focus, but eventually it should be so natural you will be able to talk to them at the same time you're talking to us. You will have better access to the knowledge and training of the soldier as well as the instincts of the hyena. I think you gained another benefit as well, though we'll have to test is, I think you'll have heightened senses and be stronger and faster thanks to the hyena. Not to the extent that you had when you were fully possessed but probably close to where Dawn and Spike are. Dawn, I'm not sure exactly what happened with you, but I'm pretty sure you passed out from more than just being the catalyst for the spell on Xander."

"Oh, I can fill in the blanks there." Replied the teen, "When I was out I got a visit from those Oracles that Angel told us about. It seems that I have a line for direct communication to the PTB and other gods and higher powers too. Because of how unusual this situation was I was then visited by the Tara's Goddess, by the way Tara she is very pleased with how you have lived your life thus far and you should expect a visit from her in the near future, and Willow while she is unhappy with what happened with you she is proud of how far you've come and how hard you've worked. Anyway she explained to me that though I can talk to them there are things that they just can't do, even information that they can only give us at certain times because they have to maintain a balance so that the scales do not become unhinged. She also told me to expect you guys to be somewhat upset with that, but personally, maybe because of the Key, I understand what she said and there's nothing we can do to change it."

The gang stayed up for a bit longer discussing this new found information. Before too long however Giles and Spike made their way back to their respective dwellings, Xander and Any soon followed suit. Willow finding herself nearly falling asleep standing up, due to the time difference and overall exhaustive excitement of the day, was helped to her room by Dawn, who herself decided to turn in for the night. Leaving Buffy and Tara talking in the kitchen. "What are you thinking sweetie?" Tara asked Buffy, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend from behind.

Buffy sighed in contentment as she sank back into Tara's warm embrace, "I was just thinking how good it is to have Willow home. When I talked to her at the coven I still wasn't sure how I felt about Dawnie having those kind of feelings for her, but seeing how far Will has come I think I can stand behind them approvingly if they develop a relationship. And if I ever freak out about it I know I have you to keep me centered." Buffy said tilting her head to look up into the loving blue eyes of her beautiful girlfriend.

"I always will be my love." Answered Tara as she met Buffy's lips with her own in a gentle kiss. Buffy's lips soon parted giving access to her girlfriends probing tongue. Several moments later they parted. "Now you better hurry up and do your patrol so I can enjoy some "Buffy-tongue" when you get back." She stepped back as Buffy turned around grabbing Tara before she could get too far away.

"Mmmm, and what if I want my Tara-lovins right now." Buffy asked pouting.

Tara grabbed a handful of Buffy's hair forcing her to look Tara in the eye. In a quiet yet commanding voice Tara spoke, "I said go patrol Slayer. We'll have plenty of fun when you get back. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Yes what?" Tara asked giving Buffy's hair a short slightly painful tug.

"Yes Mistress."

"Good Slayer. Now go, oh and don't think you're going to get away with forgetting to call me "Mistress", and Buffy." Tara said signally that the game was temporarily over by calling Buffy by her name.

"Yeah Tara?" Buffy asked turning to look at the slightly taller blonde while gathering her stakes and strapping on the Gladius Willow had brought her.

"Be careful love." Tara said, giving Buffy another kiss before she went on patrol.


	3. Lessons

**A/N:** And here we have it folks, the start of the revamped (no pun intended) season 7.

Please read and review!

**Lessons**

Buffy and Dawn went out on patrol a few weeks later, this being the first time Dawn was actually invited to go. Buffy is fighting a battle in her own head over the whole situation, _Maybe this isn't a good idea, she's probably not ready. Oh get over it Buffy, she has been training with you, Tara, and Xander to hone her fighting skills, and she's beaten you more than once. She's been training with Tara and Willow, now that she's back, to become a pretty powerful witch in training. Will and Tara told you that she could defend herself quite well with shields and they said she was good at using fire as well, but what if they're wrong. Oh come on, you know if either of them had doubts they wouldn't have let her come yet, or at least one of them would've come along as well._

Buffy was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the vampires until Dawn had already staked the first one and kicked a second in the side of its knee, sending it to the ground. Buffy quickly assessed the situation and saw that Dawn was firmly in control of the fight so far. So the slayer took a seat on a nearby tombstone to watch the show. The vampire on the ground was struggling to get back up, while Dawn's kick hadn't broken or dislocated anything, she had lucked out and hit a nerve deadening the vamp's entire leg, leaving her free for the moment to face the remaining vamp. This one was much more cautious seeing how the tall brunette has taken his buddies out of the fight. They circle each other for a short time, trying to get a read on their opponent. They start throwing punches, but neither is able to land a solid blow, the vampire is stronger, but Dawn is a little faster. So for a few short minutes it's punch/block, kick/dodge and so on, the downed vamp starts to regain his feet. Buffy seeing this tenses, ready to help if needed, but relaxes again when Dawn feints a charge at her opponent before spinning and delivering a solid roundhouse kick to the other vamps temple, "Hey Buff. You wanna handle that one?" Dawn asked still facing off with her current opponent.

"I am going to enjoy draining you little girl, then I'm going to entertain myself with your little friend there." The vamp spoke exposing his fangs in an evil smile.

His words made Dawn see red and she attacked viscously and violently, though still controlled. She feinted a left hook, but this time followed her feint with a real punch immediately after. Then followed through by closing the distance and strking his left jaw with her right elbow immediately followed by striking the other side of his jaw with a right hammer-fist. While he was dazed she pulled out her other stake and then drove the vamp to the ground using a double-leg takedown. "By the way that's my sister you were talking about." She said still raining down blows, "Just be happy you got to face me and not her. She's the slayer." Dawn whispered as she drove the stake through his chest, dusting him.

She stood up brushing the dust from her clothes, "So are we ready to head home? Vampire dust does wash out right?"

"You know you did better than I did my first slay. I missed the heart." Said Buffy truly impressed with how well Dawn performed.

"No way!"

"Yep. Only the one time though."

"Well in your defense, I had longer to train with multiple amazing people and have known about the dark world longer than you did at my age. Plus I have this awesome slayer for a sister who I share blood with…so I'm sure that helps too."

"Thanks for the pep talk Dawnie, didn't know I needed one." Buffy said wrapping her arm around her sister as they walked, "So how're things goin with Willow?"

Dawn sighed, "It's goin good, it's probably a good thing that I'm still underage, so we can work out what issues we still have from what she did while under the influence of dark magic. You know so we can rebuild our friendship before try a deeper relationship. At least that's what Tara and my rational mind tells me. The other part of me just wants to go ahead and confront her about how I feel. I see the way she looks at me sometimes and I'm pretty sure she feels the same for me, maybe it's just nerves, but something tells me neither of us is ready yet." The teen finishes and her shoulders sag a bit.

"Hey it'll all work out okay." Buffy reassures her sister with a hug, "And you know you can talk to me or Tara whenever. Just remember that sometimes you can stand there and direct the flow of things, but other times you have to stand on the sidelines and wait for the right time to jump in."

Dawn looks at Buffy with one eyebrow raised, "When did you become "advice gal" and what have you done with my sister?"

"Ha ha, very funny, I can be very insightful when I wanna be. Now let's get home and get this dust washed off."

They walk in the door and Willow and Tara are both still awake watching TV, curious to know how Dawn did on her first slay. After hearing the tale Tara is impressed, "Wow Dawnie, two on your own? Nice job!"

Buffy and Tara go into the kitchen to get something to eat and Dawn flops down on the couch next to Willow, "You didn't get hurt or anything did you?" Willow asked in a slightly worried voice, her hands clasped together, resting on her lap to keep from touching Dawn.

"Nope, no injuries here, I think the adrenaline finally wore off I feel exhausted. Not like I need to sleep, but I feel like I need to relax. You know?"

Willow nods understanding, "Well we could watch some TV if you want, or your hungry we could get something to eat."

"Well I am a little hungry I guess."

"I could make you something. What do ya want? Just remember I'm a better cook than Buffy, but not as good as Tara, or you for that matter."

"I want an extra order of a certain, juicy, red headed Wicca to nibble on, and OH MY GOD! I said that out loud didn't I?" Dawn asked her and Willows face turning color to match the young witch's hair.

"You certainly did Dawnie!" Buffy shouts from the kitchen, "And I add EWWW! Did not need that image in my head!"

Dawn quickly snaps out of her embarrassment to shoot back, "Oh come on Buffy I here worse than that from your room most nights, or should I say from your "Mistress's" room."

Buffy turns to Tara, "I thought you put a sound proofing spell on our room?"

"Oh she did, what she didn't realize was that that particular spell only works until you open a door or window. So it needs to be redone afterward." Dawn answered for the blonde witch as she and a still flushed faced Willow joined them in the kitchen.

Dawn walked over to the refrigerator and got out the ingredients to make herself a sandwich. They talked for a while and Buffy and Dawn relaxed after the slayage. With the adrenaline no longer flowing Dawn realized how tired she was and decided to take a shower then go to bed, "Good night guys." She said giving each of them a hug and Willow a kiss on the cheek, causing the red head's thought process to freeze once again.

Dawn left the room and Buffy and Tara shared a look and a smile. "Willow? Willow? Come back to us Wills." Buffy said waving her hand in front of her best friends face.

"Huh? What?" Willow sputtered regaining her composure.

"You know Buffy? I may be wrong, but I think our witch friend here has a crush on a certain brunette sister of yours." Tara said smirking at Willow.

Willow's eyes went wide, "What? No…I…um…it's not…" She tried to explain to Buffy that nothing was going on, but started to hyperventilate, worried about what Buffy might do if she knew her red haired friend liked her sister.

"Will, calm down and breathe." Buffy advised, placing her hand gently on Willow's shoulder, "It's ok Willow, I know you like Dawn. I'm not completely unobservant. And I know you would never do anything to take advantage of her if she likes you too. If it turns out that there's something there I'll support you both."

Willow is a bit dumbfounded, she stares at Buff, then looks at Tara who is smiling at her, "I think we should call it a night and let you sleep on what you were just told Willow." Said Tara as she stood, pulling Buffy up with her, "Come on baby lets go get you washed up." She added as they made their way upstairs.

Willow remained seated, still a bit stunned by what Buffy told her. She smiled and shook her head, _Damned Summers women. They always find a way to surprise you, no matter how long you've known them. Well I guess I should take Tara's advice and sleep on it, not gonna get anything else accomplished tonight._ She thought before making her way up to her room.

The next day Buffy dropped Dawn off at the newly opened Sunnydale High, for her first day of her sophomore year. She handed Dawn a small gift box, "What is it? Is it a weapon?" Dawn asked almost bouncing from excitement.

"It's kind of a weapon." Was Buffy's answer.

Dawn opened the box and squealed after seeing what was inside and promptly hugged her sister, "I hope I got you the right one. I had Willow help me pick it out, so it's guaranteed to be top of the line."

"It's great Buffy, perfect actually." Dawn assured her and gave her another hug as she began exploring her new iPhone 5 and all that came with it. "Did you have Willow pre-load it with my music? You guys are awesome!"

"I'm glad you like it Dawnie. Just remember, with all those cool apps it really is still a phone too and I know you can handle yourself, but if there's ever any problems call or text any of us."

"I will I promise. Well I guess I better get to class, don't wanna be late for the first day at Hellmouth High."

"Ok have a good day. Avoid any hyena people, , or any loser athletes, or if you see anyone who's invisible..."

"Buffy, I think it's safe to say, I'm not going to SEE anyone who's invisible."

"Right, well, have a good day."

Dawn went off to meet up with her friends before heading to class. Buffy wandered through the halls of the school and eventually met up with Xander where his crew was still working on part of the school. He showed her a few points of interest then laid out a blueprint of the old building. "Now, we know the hellmouth was located underneath the library right?" He asked rhetorically while pointing out the libraries location on the blueprint. "Now here's a transparent copy of the current design." He said laying the clear sheet over the old blueprint, "Guess where the principal's office is?"

"Wow, sitting in his office over the gateway to Hell all day. That's gotta pass on some bad mojo. I think it's time I paid the principal a visit."

After her short meet talk with principal Robin Wood, a bald, African-American man, young, but a little bit older than her, he was far different from the previous two principals that had been the stewards of the halls of the high school. She did learn that Robin was keeping a close eye on Dawn due to his knowledge of Buffy's spotty record.

Buffy went into a nearby restroom to gather her thoughts, she knew she had to learn more about this new guy. As she was about to leave to see visit Willow, who had gotten a student teaching position in the computer class, before she left she saw a bundle of herbs tied together with string sitting by the sinks. She picked it up to examine it, it smelled strongly of sage, from the way it was bundled she recognized it as a talisman, like those that Willow, Tara, and Dawn would make on occasion. She was going to take it with her until she saw a figure behind her in the mirror, _Weird,_ she thought, _I didn't hear the door open, and there was no one in here earlier._ She took a second look at the figure, it was a girl, but she appeared to be badly malnourished, her eyes were sunken and her skin was a pale grey color with spots that appeared to be decaying. "_YOU LET THEM THINK YOU PLAY THE HERO SLAYER, BUT I KNOW THE TRUTH. YOU DIDN'T SAVE ME, YOU WERE TO BUSY TRYING TO GET YOUR PRECIOUS ANGEL BACK TO SAVE ME AND SO MANY OTHERS. YOU DIDN'T SAVE ME AND YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO SAVE YOUR SISTER EITHER!_" As soon as she finished speaking the girl vanished again. Buffy shrugged it off as the hellmouth messing with her mind and went to speak with Willow and Xander before heading to the dojo.

Later that day between classes Dawn and Amanda were in the same restroom Buffy had been in earlier checking their make-up and talking about how their day was going when Kit walked out of one of the stalls with a half smoked cigarette in her hand. "Really Kit? Smoking in the restroom? Way cliché and too easy to get caught, I've told you the basement is the best place to smoke, just don't go down there alone." Dawn said while rolling her eyes.

"Yeah I know, I thought I was caught for a minute earlier, but it turned out to be some weird pale chick. I think this qualifies as one of those things we're supposed to tell your sister or one of her friends about." Kit answered.

"Yeah, kinda sounds that way, well it's lunch period, let's go see if we can catch both Willow and Xander at the construction site." Dawn replied and the three head for the door, but before they get halfway the floor collapses beneath them and they find themselves in the basement.

The three girls find Carlos down there as well and Dawn manages to call Buffy before they are attacked by the same zombie/ghoul that Buffy and Kit saw along with two others, a male student and a janitor. Dawn is able to hold them off with Carlos' help for long enough for the foursome to make it to a supply room and barricade the door. Dawn surveys the room and finds weapons for them all, utilizing metal pipes, pieces of rebar and finding a large pipe wrench for herself.

By this time Buffy had made her way to the school and the basement by way of the same hole Dawn and the others had fallen through. She searched for her sister and her sister's friends through the maze of the basement all the while being sporadically attacked by the zombie people who seemed to be trying to keep her away from one door in particular. She managed to get through the door only to find Spike crouched in the corner talking to himself, she tried to question him, but his utterings made less sense than Drusilla on her worst day. She managed to ascertain that the zombies had been created via the talisman. She called Xander and told him to find the talisman and destroy it. She then left Spike when she heard a scream that sounded like Amanda. She got to the four friends and they managed to hold the zombies off long enough for Xander to break the talisman and end the spell, while fighting off a zombie himself.

After getting them all back up from the basement Buffy addresses Dawn and her friends, "You guys know what goes on around here you've been told by all of us and today you've seen for yourselves how dangerous and unpredictable this school can be. You can make it through though, Xander, Willow, Oz, Cordelia, and I did, but you have to stick together and watch out for each other. You have a responsibility to the other students, and to the teachers even, you know why weird things happen so it's your job to be the next "Scooby gang" if you will. You don't have to call yourselves that, but stick together, protect each other, and defend your school. And remember if it's too much for you to handle you know where to find a slayer, two powerful trained witches, and one bad ass carpenter with the memories of a soldier and instincts of a hyena. Now you guys better get to class before you get in trouble."

"Wow, you actually managed to get Carlos and Kit to willingly go to class. I'm impressed." Said principal Wood from behind Buffy, "Their records are second only to your own Miss Summers. And that was meant to be a compliment in some obscure way. Anyway you seem to have a way of connecting with these kids, and I want to offer you a job, it would only be a couple days a week, we could work around your schedule, and we can't offer you much in the way of pay, but we have a position open for a counselor, someone for the kids to talk to with whatever problems they have. Most of the staff we have here is much older than the student population, but you and your friend Miss Rosenberg, who will be taking a counseling position during her free periods and after school, are close enough in age to the students that I believe they will open up to you and listen to what advice you can give them."

Buffy thought about it for a moment before agreeing to take the job.

Back in the basement Spike was still crouched against the wall muttering "The thing is…I had a speech. I learned it all. Oh, God. She won't understand, she won't understand."

A figure appearing as Warren spoke, "Of course she won't understand, Sparky. I'm beyond her understanding. She's a girl. Sugar and spice and everything...useless unless you're baking. I'm more than that. More than flesh ..." The creature shifted into Glory's form, "... more than blood. I'm ... you know, I honestly don't think there's a human word fabulous enough for me. Oh, my name will be on everyone's lips, assuming their lips haven't been torn off. But not just yet. That's all right, though ..." It changed again, to Adam this time, "... I can be patient. Everything is well within parameters. She's exactly where I want her to be. And so are you, Number 17. You're right where you belong." Now as the Mayor, "So what'd you think? You'd get your soul back and everything'd be Jim Dandy? Soul's slipperier than a greased weasel. Why do you think I sold mine? Well, you probably thought that you'd be your own man, and I respect that, but ..." Then it switched to Drusilla, "... you never will. You'll always be mine. You'll always be in the dark with me, singing our little songs. You like our little songs, don't you? You've always liked them, right from the beginning. And that's where we're going ..." Then it became the Master, "... right back to the beginning. Not the Bang ... not the Word ... the true beginning. The next few months are going to be quite a ride. And I think we're all going to learn something about ourselves in the process. You'll learn you're a pathetic schmuck, if it hasn't sunk in already. Look at you. Trying to do what's right, just like her. You still don't get it. It's not about right, not about wrong ..." Finally taking on Buffy's form, "... it's about power."


	4. Beneath You

**A/N:** Okay just to alleviate any possible confusion (along with the fact that I believe I stupidly forgot to mention in a previous chapter) Xander and Anya are married. Hell's Bells went the same as in canon right up to where Xander killed the demon. After that Xander still almost called the wedding off until Giles talked to him, showing him how different he truly was from his biological family.

**Beneath You**

(Nighttime; Summers' Residence)

A few days later Dawn was headed back to bed after getting herself a glass of water when she felt worry and fear coming from Buffy and Tara's room. After a brief hesitation she slowly opened the door with her eyes to the ground, moving her gaze up slowly, not knowing if her sister and her sister's girlfriend were decently covered. She saw that Tara had a robe on and Buffy was covered by the bed sheets. It was then she noticed Buffy in the midst of one of her slayer dreams thrashing about. Tara was worried having never witnessed this before and was trying to shake her lover awake. Dawn gently placed her hand on Tara's shoulder, "It's ok Tara. She's not having a nightmare exactly, it's a slayer dream. Trust me it's not time to wake her from it yet." Tara nodded, deferring to the young woman seeing that she had experience in this situation, though it did little to lessen her worry for her girlfriend.

When Buffy's thrashing began to slow and she started whimpering Dawn gave her a firm, but not too violent slap to her face, waking her instantly. Buffy sat up instantly and quickly regained her bearings, reaching to Tara who wrapped her in a comforting hug. Dawn smile at the pair, happy with how close they had become, that Buffy didn't seek comfort from her nightmares from her sister anymore, "Do you need me to get you anything? Like a glass of water? Shot of whiskey?" Dawn asked with a teasing smile.

Buffy tried to glare at her sister, but was unable to keep it from turning into a smile as she felt Tara's giggling against her, "No thanks Dawn. You should probably go back to bed; I'll tell you all about my dream in the morning." Dawn nodded giving both girls a brief hug before returning to her room.

"How did Dawn know I was having a bad dream?" Buffy asked after she had calmed down enough.

"I don't really know. I'm guessing she sensed my worry when I couldn't wake you up. Then she came in and told me it was a slayer dream and that we couldn't wake you up until a certain point. She's really a rather remarkable you woman." Tara placed a loving kiss on Buffy's soft lips, "We should get some sleep as well." She added. She and Buffy lay back down with Tara pressed protectively against the smaller woman's back, her arms wrapped around her lover. Buffy settled in pressing herself further back into the comforting embrace, resting her hand on the loving arms wrapped around her. The lovers slowly drifted back to sleep. _From beneath you it devours? Cryptic much?_ Buffy thought before she was lulled to sleep by Tara's warm embrace.

The next morning Buffy and Willow slowly made their way downstairs where Tara and Dawn were already almost finished preparing breakfast. "Mmmm…bacon, eggs, and is that fresh coffee I smell?" Buffy asked as she stepped into the kitchen ahead of the still groggy red head.

Dawn walked over to them as they sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen. Smiling as she placed a mug of fresh coffee in front of each of the newly recently awakened women. Willow lifted her mug close to her face, inhaling deeply the aroma of the dark brew she closed her eyes and smiled "Buffy, I think we should keep her."

Buffy smirked and took a sip of her coffee before replying, "I dunno Wills it's a lot of responsibility. You'll have to feed and water her, take her on walks, make sure she's properly house trained…"

Dawn in faux anger reached for the coffee mugs, "Well since I'm obviously not appreciated around here, I'll just take my coffee and go."

Reflexively hugging the mugs of precious liquid to themselves the two women quickly left off their teasing, "No Dawn, we were just kidding." Buffy backpedaled.

"Yeah you're like the awesomest person we know, you and Tara both." Added Willow.

"Oh we know we are." Tara said as she and Dawn fist bumped.

Dawn continued, "Drink your coffee ladies, breakfast is almost ready."

After breakfast Xander arrived at the Summers' house after dropping his wife off at the Magic Box. Buffy relayed her dream to her friends present. "Ok so let me get this straight…a couple guys in black hooded robes chased some pink haired girl through the dark halls of some night club, they catch in an alley where she tries to fight them off until they stab her with a weird curved blade, oh and they don't have eyes…did I get everything?" Xander asked running through the simplified version of Buffy's dream.

"Yep, my slayer dream in a nutshell."

"Is this a "call in sick to work and break out the demon books" level emergency, or is it a "research can wait till after school and work" type thing?" Willow asked still thinking over what Buffy had just told them.

"Nah, I think this'll keep for a few hours anyway." Replied the slayer.

(Sunnydale high)

Xander, Buffy, Willow, and Dawn carpool to the school, due to the fact that the part of the school still under construction includes the main parking lot. The four go their separate ways and Buffy is given a short rundown of her duties as a counselor by Principal Wood, "You shouldn't have to worry Buffy, You're the youngest and most approachable member of the faculty. The students are gonna _want_ to come in and talk to you, when they do remember, don't evaluate them, just listen." Explained the man.

"Can I give detention?" Buffy asked, suddenly turning to him after taking in her small office/cubicle space an almost childish look of excitement on her face.

"Fine by me, a little authority never hurt anyone. Remember also that aren't here to be there friend. If you give some them that impression they'll eat you alive."

"You heard about Principal Flutie right?" She asked and upon seeing the slight confusion on Principal Wood's face she continued, "Forget it."

Right then the bell rang and the principal wished her luck and she settled into her chair, hoping for a good day. After having no students come in to see her Buffy decided to take a break and ventured down to the basement in hopes of finding Spike again, but she had no such luck.

(Nighttime Summers' Residence)

After a long day Willow, Dawn, Tara, and Buffy were relaxing after eating supper before willow and Buffy went out on patrol, when Xander and Anya came in with a woman named Nancy, who had been walking her dog when it was suddenly pulled underground through a suddenly formed hole in the sidewalk. Spike appeared in the room, surprising everyone and receiving death glares from Tara and Dawn while Xander had his typical look of disgust that he saved specifically for vampires, Willow was uncertain what to think, not knowing whether glare at the blond vamp herself or if she should try and sneak out of the room, Nancy was similarly confused while Anya retained her usual uncaring mask.

"Sounds like you could use some help. Fortunately, you've got me." Spike said as he leaned against the door.

At that moment Anya decided to volunteer to drive Nancy home, not wanting to witness whatever drama might happen.

"I don't think you're anything close to what she needs." Tara responded anger dripping from her voice.

"Or what she wants for that matter." Dawn added bitterly.

"Look I don't really wanna be here surrounded by people who don't particularly like me, but we need to talk. Do you wanna do that here or privately?"

"I don't think there's anything that the two of you have to talk about that's private, you can talk here in front of us." Tara stated firmly and Dawn nodded her agreement.

Spike just stood silently waiting for Buffy to make her decision. She looked from Tara and Dawn to Spike several time before following the vampire from the room. Upsetting Tara who quickly retreated to her and Buffy's room. Willow made a move to follow the blonde witch, but Dawn stopped her, telling her to keep an eye on Spike, "If he does something stupid, burn him." Dawn ordered coldly.

As Dawn made her way upstairs she overheard part of the conversation, "…last you saw me, I was out of my head. I mean I spent last week living in the school basement." Dawn stopped in her tracks her face showing barely contained rage, which was now focused on her sister.

"You saw him?" Dawn asked her voice surprisingly calm.

"Well…yes I did…"

"What? You just forgot to mention it?" The younger Summers sister asked condescendingly.

"Things were crazy down there, I saved your life remember? We'll talk about this later."

"Sure, whatever you want." Agreed Xander and Dawn a bit dejectedly.

"Cause that's the only time you let us in Buffy, when you want. I thought we were past this. Well you know what _sis_? I'm done, I am not goin to try anymore if you won't let me in I'm done with you, and if you think you're still gonna pretend to be involved in my life, well don't cause why would I want advice and guidance from someone as fucked up as you!? If you need me I'll be upstairs, trying to get your girlfriend to calm down." Dawn finished her eyes blazing before she continued up the stair to make sure Tara was okay.

"I'm serious Buffy, I'm not here to try and atone. I'm here to help with what's coming. I aint connected like you obviously with the dream and visions. I'm just a guy with his ear to the ground but even I can feel it. Whatever it is it's so big, ugly, and damned it makes you and me look like little bitty puzzle pieces. Please tell me if I'm wrong, I'd be more than happy to hear that in this case."

"Everything about you is well beyond wrong Spike, but you're right that something is coming. And since when did you become the savior? Champion of the people?"

"I'm not, I have no allusions of any real redemption, but I can help if you'll let me."

"Well right now we have a smaller big bad to deal with. I guess you can patrol with me, we're looking for some sort of burrowing demony thing. Not sure on the details. Willow tell Tara and Dawn where I went, hopefully this'll be taken care of quickly."

Before Spike could follow Buffy out the door Dawn came back downstairs and stopped him, "Spike? You sleep right? You vampires…you sleep?"

"Uh yeah." Spike replied quite confused. "What's your point?"

"Obviously I can't take you in a fight or anything, you being a skilled master vampire and everything. Even with a chip in your head, but you do sleep. If you hurt my sister at all…touch her. You're gonna wake up on fire." She finished her tone ice cold and her face showing the promise behind her threat.

After some investigative work they found out that the burrowing thing was a Sluggoth demon which is what Nacy's ex was turned into after a talk with a vengeance demon. Buffy sent Xander to try and talk the demon into reversing the spell while she and Spike went looking for Nancy and swooping in at the last minute to save her. Spike started hitting the Sluggoth with a metal rod he ripped from the side of a building. As he went for the killing blow the vengeance demon reversed the spell and Spike's strike sent the metal rod through the now human male's shoulder causing his chip to react. "Sorry." He said as he pulled the rod back out of the man's shoulder. With the shock the chip gave him he reverted back to the same crazy babble he was plagued with the last time Buffy saw him. The crazed vamp ran off as Xander and Anya arrived on the scene, Buffy left them with the injured man while she took off back to the house to check on Tara.

Buffy entered the house "Tara's up in your room, she stopped crying about an hour after you left. Don't go to bed without working through this, that's how it started with mom and dad." Dawn told her from the kitchen as she finished a bit of homework that she had put off.

Buffy nodded and made her way upstairs, she felt guilty for just leaving and not even thinking how Tara would feel about the situation. What Dawn had said to her early was still ringing in her ears. _She was right, things were going so good and you put it all at risk for your undead ex-lover? I really am fucked up aren't I? Gods I hope Tara will talk to me._ She cautiously opened their bedroom door and stepped inside. Tara was sitting in a chair, staring out the window with her knees drawn up to her chest, "Did you fix that ladies problem?" She asked without turning.

"Yeah, turns out it was a vengeance demon, but Xander and Anya got her to revoke the curse so nothing died…except the dog."

"That's better than it could've gone." Tara said coldly. "Why did you go with him?" Her voiced wavered with the question and she was on the verge of tears again.

Buffy walked over next to Tara's chair and knelt in front of her resting her head against her girlfriends legs, "I know you're worried about what he tried to do to me, and probably worried due to the history I have with him, but do you trust me that it's really just that…history?"

"I want to Buffy, really I do. Could you not hear how I felt before you chose to go talk with him. I can understand if it was "slayer business", but you said nothing. You barely acknowledged that Dawn and I had spoken. How was I supposed to feel?"

"I'm sorry honey, I really am and we definitely have more to talk about, but, and please don't hate me, but I came back to check you were ok and to get Dawn before going back out. There's something off about Spike and in more than just the evil demon sense. So I want to take Dawn out with me to make sure he isn't causing trouble. Can you be ok with that?"

"Ok, but Buffy, please stop pushing me…us away. We love you and care about you, but if you keep shutting people out eventually they stop trying to get in. I'm not upset with you, a bit disappointed perhaps, but we can go to bed with that and talk later. Be careful, both of you."

Dawn and Buffy tracked Spike to a chapel in one of the graveyards. He stepped out of the shadows his shirt in his hands, "Didn't work, didn't work…costume…didn't help. Goodnight." He said dropping the shirt to the ground.

"No more mind games Spike." Buffy said confused.

"No more mind games, no more mind."

"Tell me what happened to you?" She asked as she tried to touch the recently healed scars on his chest.

He shrunk away from her, wrapping his arms around himself, "Hey, hey, hey! No touching. Am I flesh? Am I flesh to you? Feed on flesh, my flesh. Nothing else, not a spark…fine flesh then. Solid through." He starts unbuttoning his pants, "Get it hard, service the girl."

"Stop!" Buffy ordered grabbing his arms, he slipped from her grasp and grabbed her throat in return and she threw him across the room.

"Right. Girl doesn't wanna be serviced. Because there's no spark. Ain't we in the soddin' engine?"

"Spike have you completely lost your mind?"

"Yeah, Where've you been all night?"

"You just thought you'd come back and…be with me?"

"First time for everything."

"All you get is me listening. Tell me what happened."

"I tried to find it of course."

"Find what?"

"The spark. The missing... the piece... that fit. That would make me fit. Because you didn't want... God, I can't. Not with you looking." He stood from where she had thrown him and walked to the front of the chapel. "I dreamed of killing you." Buffy picks up a sharp piece of a broken pew. "I think they were dreams. So weak. Did you make me weak? Thinking of you, holding myself. Spilling useless buckets of salt over your…ending. Angel…he should have warned me." Buffy now starts to understand what he's talking about. "He makes a good show of forgetting, but it's here, in me... all the time. The spark…I wanted to give you... what you deserve. And I got it. They put the spark in me. And now all it does is burn." He wanders around the interior of the small building, walking past Buffy down the main aisle

"Your soul."

Spike laughed now, "Bit worse for lack of use."

"You got your soul back…how?"

"It's what you wanted, right? It's what you wanted, right?! And-and now everybody's in here, talking. Everything I did, everyone I…and him. And it. The other...the thing...beneath...beneath you. It's here, too. Everybody...they all just tell me go. Go...to hell."

"Why? Why would you do that?"

"Buffy, shame on you. Why does a man do what he mustn't? For her. To be hers. To be the kind of man who would nev…" He got to the point where he was nearly crying, "To be a kind of man. And she shall look on him with forgiveness...and everybody will forgive and love." Spike walked up to a large cross at the front of the chapel. "He will be loved." He draped himself over the cross, leaning against it as his skin started to burn. "So everybody's ok right?"

Buffy cried and he finished saying, "C-can we rest now? Buffy? Can we rest?"


	5. Keeping Willow Planted

**A/N:** This replaces S7E3 "Same Time, Same Place" it will involve some of the same elements but also is vastly different.

**Keeping Willow Planted**

(Summers Residence)

"Ugh I'm getting tired of this!" Dawn growled as she flopped down on the couch next to Tara and Buffy.

"Whatsa matter Dawn?" Buffy asked while cuddling with her girlfriend.

Dawn smiled at the two, "Nothing new, just tired of waiting for Willow to make up her mind. I know she needs time to figure things out on her own, but I didn't think someone so smart could be so ignorant in a situation like this. I don't know if I'll last until she gets her shit together, I might explode."

"Well, have you thought about making the first move instead of waiting for her?" Tara asked.

"Do you think I should?" Dawn asked back hopefully.

Buffy and Tara shared a look then turned back to Dawn smiling, "I think you might need to for your own good. I think Willow is ready, but worried about what I might do if I knew she wanted to date you. Go for it sis."

Dawn smiled and then stood from the couch, "Thanks guys. You know Buffy, being with Tara is really good for you, you've become rather insightful. It's Saturday, so you guys don't have any classes at the dojo right?"

"Nope our Saturdays are free." Buffy answered.

"Good we should do something today, Xander, Anya, and Willow too. Maybe a barbeque or a picnic you know get out of town for the day. In the mean-time I'm gonna make breakfast. I invited Xander and Anya over, hope that's ok."

"What did you talk to Willow about that time you visited her at the coven?" Tara asked once Dawn was in the other room.

"I'd originally planned to talk to her about Dawn, but seeing how well she was doing I didn't want to distract her so instead I apologized that we didn't do more to try and help her, for being so focused on myself that I neglected our friendship. I reassured her that she'd have a home after she was done there. Other than that I got her caught up on what everyone was doing here." Was Buffy's answer.

Xander and Anya came in as Dawn was setting the table and Xander immediately started talking, "Guys I think we might have a problem. I stopped by the school on the way over here to make sure the site hadn't been broken into and I found a body, not our typical "barbecue fork exsanguination" incident either. The guy had been skinned and his blood drained." As he finished talking a dirty, bloody, wobbly Willow walked through the back door and passed out.

"What happened Willow?" Xander asked as she came to on the couch.

"I don't know. I remember going to bed last night, but this morning I woke up at the construction site." Willow answered everyone's faces paled and Dawn quickly ran off to the bathroom to be sick. "What's the matter guys?" Anya quickly and surprisingly delicately relayed the details of Xander's finding to Willow. She started panicking, "But I didn't…I mean I don't remember, but I didn't…I would never…oh Goddess did?" Willow was nearly in tears at the thought that she may be responsible for killing the guy.

"We don't know Wills." Buffy replied, but Willow caught a look on Anya's face.

"What Anya? I know you know something, please tell me." Willow pleaded with the ex-demon.

Anya sighed before answering, her 1200 years of knowledge and experience was very useful at times. "Well nothing for sure, there are several types of demons that are classified as skin eaters, but it could also be a spell, heavy black magic from a powerful witch or warlock. You have more than enough power to have done it Willow," When the redheads face fell she added, "But then again Tara also has just enough power, and I believe Dawnie might as well."

"Okay let's start researching skin eating and blood drinking demons, look for one that do both, but it could have been two working together as well. Tara is there a way to tell if Willow did it?" Buffy started giving orders.

Xander and Anya went to the Magic Box While Tara nodded to Buffy's question. The blonde witch looked to Willow for permission before placing her hands on the red haired woman's head. "I can't see anything, someone's blocking me. It's a very evil presence. Dawn you try."

The witch in training placed her hands on Willow and closed her eyes. After several moments of concentration she recoiled with a hiss of disgust, "Rack!" She spat the dark warlock's name.

"I think it's time we pay him a visit." Buffy said.

Dawn turned to her sister, "No you take Willow to the shop there's still a demon or demons that need finding. Tara and I will handle this. Rack will be dealt with." Tara nodded as the two stood.

Willow grabbed Dawn's wrist before they left, "Did you see if I had anything to do with it?" She pleaded reminding Dawn of a scared child.

The young woman's heart broke for the red head, "I'm sorry Willow, but I promise Tara and I will find out."

(Rack's Headquarters)

Dawn and Tara literally blew the door down. Simultaneously they cast two spells before Rack could react to the sudden intrusion. "Contrinxerit! Tacete!" Their spells instantly bound and silenced the dangerous and powerful warlock, respectively.

Tara turned to Dawn, "Okay this next spell I will have to do myself, it is dark because it goes against the subjects will, makes them a slave temporarily, but it will make him tell us the truth." She placed her hand on Rack's forehead and began chanting, "Justitia in nomine respondere crimina."

"What did you kill that man?" Tara asked

"No," Rack answered, "You both are dead women walking you know that? You aren't powerful enough to hold me for long."

Ignoring his threats Dawn asked the next question, "Did you make Willow kill him?"

"No, I just gave her a magical buzz and set her free. She was my best customer you know, I wanted her back."

"You didn't try to frame her for the killing?"

"No, but I can imagine the look on her face when she found out about the body."

"I think that's all we're getting out of him Dawnie, let's go."

"Why leave? You can't run far enough to get away from me!"

"You're right." Dawn said flatly as she quickly drew a short sword she had hidden on herself and before Tara could stop her she cleanly decapitated the black magic dealer.

"You shouldn't have done that Dawn. He deserved…"

"Nothing!" Dawn cut her off, "He would never have reformed and would have been a nuisance like Ethan Rayne except Ethan isn't as powerful or as evil. Rack would have continued to destroy lives. I'll accept any punishment or penance or whatever you guys or the coven decides to give me, but I don't regret what I did."

"I admit you probably did the right thing, but it's not my place to judge and I don't think the rest of the gang will disagree. We will need to inform the coven, but our reputation for fighting evil and his reputation for black magic will most likely have you cleared of any wrong doing. The only problem is he was technically human, but then again so are you."

"Quite right child." They heard a voice behind them. They turned to see the head of the Devon coven enter the room, "I am Abigail, Willow informed me of the situation and of where the two of you were going. Tara is right Dawn, however the investigation is already complete. We were preparing a team to come after Rack, but you have done our job for us. Most likely you will receive a commendation. Rack was responsible for the corruption of so many witches and warlocks, having him gone will give the magical realm a bit of a rest. I will make sure his body is disposed of and this…lair is searched for rare items then destroyed. Our coven is in your debt if you ever need anything let us know. Go back to your friends, we'll deal with the rest here."

(The Magic Box)

They were met by the gang when they got to Anya's shop. They relayed the story of what happened. Willow was relieved that she had nothing to do with the man's death.

"Are you gonna be okay Dawn?" Buffy asked, worried about what her sister would go through with the knowledge that she had killed a human, no matter how evil he was.

"I think so…it's starting to catch up to me that he was human, barely, but what Abigail said helped. I promise not to keep it bottled up, if I need to talk, I'll find one of you."

Anya spoke up, "Actually Dawn if you need someone to talk to your best bet would probably be me or Spike, or you could call Angel. They went through the grief of getting their souls back, I went through a lot of things talking to both Giles and Angel about my vengeance demon days, if you need anything I'll be here for you."

Dawn smiled at the ex-demon and gave her a soft slightly sad smile, "Thanks Anya, I might take you up on that. How are we on finding the demon or demons?"

"Well we've ruled out a few, but it's slow going with these books, and hard to find anything online." Buffy answered.

Dawn borrowed Willows laptop and with a few keystrokes had three list on screen; demons who drank blood, demons who ate skin, and demons who did both. The Sboobies were all amazed by how quickly Dawn had worked. "Cordelia told me about this website, demons demons demons dot com. She's embarrassed Wesley a few times by finding something he was stumped on." She answered their unasked question.

"Nice work sis! Now we just have to narrow it down."

Anya looked at the lists, "Xander baby, can you recall if the man appeared pained of anything like that?"

Xander looked thoughtful for a moment, "No if I had to guess I'd say he looked…peaceful."

Anya nodded, "Start with this one." She pointed to a name and Dawn clicked on it. "That's what I thought. The Gnarl, there is only ever one it eats skin _and_ drinks blood. It's talons have a paralyzing venom so it can enjoy it's meal. Crap! It likes to live in caves."

"Damn!" Said Willow, "Around here that knowledge is about as helpful as saying, likes to breathe air."

"Well we better get going, we'll do two teams; Dawn you're with me, Willow you go with Xander, Tara and Anya, you guys stay close by to jump in and help whichever team needs you. Sound good?"

They all nodded, grabbed weapons and left Dawn hesitated before setting down the sword she had used to kill Rack, instead picking up an axe. They got to the caves on the outskirts of Sunnydale and began their search. Buffy and Dawn were the ones to find him, he was a scrawny, with sharp teeth, green and yellow wrinkled skin and long sharp claws. They started to fight him, but he was quick and managed to cut Dawn. Willow, Xander, Anya, and Tara arrived at that moment.

Willow saw Dawn had been hurt and instantly reacted using magic to push Dawn out of the cave, but she miscalculated and pushed everyone else out as well and caused a cave in which blocked the entrance, leaving her alone with Gnarl. She was unable to react before Gnarl cut her. She soon collapsed to the floor, paralyzed.

"They were here. Here they were. And there they went. Gone, all gone, what a pretty song. They sealed you in with me. I love a gifty. Can't wait to unwrap it." Said Gnarl as he began cutting strips from Willow's skin to feed on.

Outside the cave the other Scoobies were working frantically to get back in the cave after leaning Dawn against a nearby tree and leaving Anya to guard her, but even with Buffy's slayer strength and Tara's magic it took nearly half an hour until they had cleared a path large enough for Buffy to get through.

Once back inside she started fighting Gnarl again, he cut her, but she still managed to keep fighting until her legs finally gave out. Thinking he had won Gnarl crawled over top of Buffy to examine his prize. As he did Buffy gouged his eyes out with her thumbs, killing him and instantly releasing herself as well as Dawn and Willow from the paralysis.

Xander and Anya split make sure Willow and the others get home okay before going home themselves. Dawn and Tara bandage Willows many wounds where Gnarl removed strips of her skin on her abdomen arms and legs.

(Summers Residence)

The next morning Dawn goes in to check on Willow who is meditating and using Earth magic to help her wounds heal faster. "Hey Willow, how are you feeling?" Dawn asked as she sat on the bed near her friend.

"Morning Dawnie. I'm doing alright just trying to speed up the healing process." Willow answered with a smile.

"Willow, how come you pushed us all out of the cave last night?"

"Well…when I saw that you'd been hurt I just reacted…I only meant to move just you, but my emotions were so high…cause I was scared of losing you that the magic was a bit stronger than it needed to be."

"I'm glad that you're okay and not that I'm ungrateful, but next time maybe kill the demon first, unless you plan on following us out."

"Don't worry Dawn I'll remember that lesson." They both laughed a little. "Dawn why did you kill Rack yesterday? I could have told you the coven was planning to stop him." Willow asked.

"I did it Will and I'd do it again too, even if I knew the coven's plans. I decided he was going to die before Tara and I even left the house. I wasn't going to let him touch you again. And yes, I killed a human, but I'm not the only one we know who has there's Anya, Spike, Angel, don't tell Buffy, but Giles killed Ben after the Glory was beaten down, it was the only way to truly defeat her and Giles knew she couldn't do it. I have all these people to help me work through the issues that will arise from this, and as weird as some of them might be, they all got through it or are working through it okay. Hell with the reports we're getting from Angel my best bet might be to take a trip to LA and talk to Faith. No matter how I feel when the full realization hits me I did it to keep you safe, and I will never regret that Willow. I love you. You know that right?"

"Of course Dawn, I love you too."

"No Willow I mean I _love_ you."

"Dawn…I…" Willow was at a loss at Dawn's confession.

"You don't have to say anything. I just couldn't go any longer without letting you know." Dawn kissed Willow on the forehead. "You should get some more rest until you've healed. I'll bring you up something to eat in a bit and check your bandages." Dawn added as she left the room.

"She loves me?" Willow asked out loud to the empty room. _That's what she said, now how do you _really_ feel about her. You don't wanna go down this road with the wrong intention Rosenberg, you could lose more than one friend if you aren't sure._ She thought.

Down in the kitchen Tara and Buffy were faced with a nervous Dawn, "OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod…" She kept repeating.

Buffy grabbed her shoulders and gave her a light shake. "Dawn! "Oh my God" what?"

"I just told Willow I love her." Dawn answered still shocked at her own admission.

Buffy and Tara shared a smile, "Way to go sweetie! Tara praised. "That's what's called "making the first move"."


	6. Reinforcements?

**A/N:** I apologize in advance to any Kennedy lovers out there, she's not gonna have the best time when she shows up, but I plan to be nicer to her than some authors are. I had the story planned up to the previous chapter, so I basically writing as I think and hopefully it works out, future updates may be a bit more sporadic than usual.

**Reinforcements?**

A few weeks had gone by and things at the Sunnydale High had quickly gotten weirder and weirder. Strange occurrences from Buffy's combined three years were happening all at once. She, Dawn, and Willow were doing what they could, but they were having a hard time keeping up with all the badness. On the bright side the Scooby gang was holding their ground pretty well. The real big bad had yet to show itself to them so they were alert and ready, though not feeling strung too tight just yet.

For Dawn things were still a bit frustrating. Willow had told her that, though she could admit she felt something for the younger girl, she was not quite ready for a relationship just yet. However after their talk they had started hanging out together more, whether it was studying magic, helping Dawn with homework (which she rarely actually needed help with), or Willow's hand to hand fighting training (which both Dawn and Xander strongly insisted she learn). Dawn now found herself trying to convince a hesitant Willow to go with her to dinner with Tara and Buffy, "Please Willow, if you don't go I'll have no way to distract myself when they get all gooey eyed with each other. It doesn't have to be a date for us if you're still not ready…or if you just don't want to be with me I'll understand that too." Dawn said the last part in a whisper with her eyes become a bit glassy with unwanted tears.

"But…I…Of course I'll go with you Dawn." Willow replied softly cupping Dawn's chin, "I think I'd be willing for us to be couple even, if I weren't a teacher at your school. That's the biggest problem other people would have, the fact that I have an authoritative role over you with you still being a minor."

"I'm ok with keeping it quiet from some people. Honestly I just want to be with you."

"Alright, let Buffy know that I'm going with you and I'll go get ready."

Later at the restaurant Dawn, Willow, Buffy, and Tara were having fun giving their minds a rest from work and school, just enjoying each other's company and talking. "Is this a new place? Cause I don't remember ever coming here before my trip to England?" Willow asked.

"I think it's new." Dawn said and Buffy shrugged.

"No, it's been around for a couple years, but they recently moved to the good part of town. So it seems new…this was one of the first places I ate when I came to Sunnydale, even worked here for a couple months." Tara answered.

Their entrees arrived then and they ate, still enjoying some small talk throughout their meal. When they ordered dessert Dawn spoke up suddenly, "I have a surprise for you guys…and before anyone says anything, I had decided I wanted to do this even before Willow left for England. Anyway I've been talking to Principal Wood and, though I need Buffy's approval to make it count for anything, I've done a lot of the work required to let me graduate early." Dawn paused for a second to take a breath, but continued before Buffy or Willow could say anything, "I figured I've already been moved ahead a grade, I'm hardly even challenged in high school classes, I've passed the courses that Principal Wood gave me already, I just need to write a couple final papers, get letters of recommendation from three teachers, and of course I'll need your signature Buffy. If you decide not to sign the extra courses will count as college credit, so don't feel too guilty if you don't want to do this. I just thought that though we're doing good as far as finances are concerned, I know you're getting a little burnt out with running the dojo as well as being a councilor at the school, I could take over your class and let you focus on your Sunnydale High job."

"So this isn't solely a spur of the moment thing just so you and I could date without any moral issues of me being a teacher where you go to school?" Willow asked a bit concerned about Dawn's reasoning behind her decision.

"I promise you it's not Willow. It may free us up to date if that's what you decide you want, but there are also many other good reasons for me to do this. Wouldn't it be helpful if I could put that much more time into researching any upcoming apocalypses instead of being in a class that isn't even helping me?"

Buffy had been strangely silent through this, she looked from face to face of the women around her at the table trying to read what they felt. Dawn could see something in Buffy's expression, she took it as unease so she reached across the table placing her hand atop her sisters, "Like I said Buffy, you don't have to sign off on it. It's not an emancipation thing either, though I thought about that…even called Angel and talked to a lawyer friend of his, there's a lot of hassle that goes into that. I would just be graduating early."

Buffy smiled at her sister and gave her hand a gentle squeeze, "Well I'd want to talk to your principal first." She looked over at Tara, "And I kinda wanna talk a little more about this," She shifted her gaze to Willow, "All of us?"

Willow froze for a moment,_ Is she saying she wants me to be involved with this? How…is she giving me another sign that she's ok with me dating her sister? I guess the ball's in my court…_"Yes, all of us." She smiled taking Dawn's hand in her own and giving the girl a smile, "That is if you're sure you want this Dawn."

"Yes Will, I'm sure…I would show you how sure I am, but you'd probly get embarrassed. Plus with my sister sitting right there…anyway, yes I'm sure."

"And on that note our desserts are here…and again I say a shake Dawn really? And of course the milkshakes here are going to be huge. I personally think it's an injustice that you can drink that with no repurcussions whereas I would have to eat nothing but salad for a week to counteract it. Don't you even laugh Buffy, you have some mystical mojo that gives you a super metabolism…and Willow, you're just naturally skinny aren't you…or did you discover a spell a few years ago?"

"No, no spell…guess I'm still running on my high schooler metabolism." Willow says as she and Buffy dig into their ice cream sundaes while Dawn slips down her shake, grinning at Tara.

"Don't give us that fake upset thing Tara, we all know you'd rather have fruit kabobs for dessert anyway." Buffy mock scolded her girlfriend.

"That's not the point." Tara replied indignantly, before leaning closer to her girlfriend and whispering, "Are you correcting me Slayer? I'll deal with you later."

Buffy had a look in her eyes that included fear, but was mostly excitement. Dawn saw their little exchange, "Eeewww…could you guys please keep whatever that was to the bedroom, or at least whenever I'm _not_ around?"

"Admit it Dawnie, you're just jealous." Buffy smirked.

"I refuse to answer a question that may incriminate me."

The four girls joked and talked with each other for a couple more hours as they enjoyed their desserts. When the four got home they sat and talked for a while before training together. Then after training Buffy and Dawn told Willow and Tara that they wanted to talk alone for a while, "Are you sure this is what you want Dawn? And did you really give me all your reasons?" Buffy asked once Willow and Tara left the room.

"I have thought about this for a while Buffy, like I said, I had thought about this even before Willow came back. I'll admit that the fact that doing this will make it easier for me and Willow to be together is a strong factor, but the other things I said are true too. I know you'd rather have me not worry, but having worked with Anya on top of taking business math, I know how close things were money wise when it was just you and Tara working and now that school's started she's had to cut back her hours. Willow is helping, but I know money is still tight. I know how hard you guys work to keep us all together and I appreciate it so much, but if I were to graduate early I can help. I've thought about this a lot and I really want to do this. I think it will be good for me, but good for everyone else too."

"Alright Dawn, I can see you've thought this through and I can't think of a good argument against it. I guess I'll set up a meeting with Principal Wood for Monday." Buffy decided and Dawn gave one of her patented squeals and hugged Buffy before rushing off to tell Willow.

About a month and a half later on Saturday, a day when those who worked and went to school during the week were awarded some much needed rest, especially when you had thrown a party the night before for your sister who had just finished the requirements to graduate early. Apparently someone forgot to give that memo to the moron who was knocking loudly on the Summers' front door. Buffy was thinking of various forms of torture she could employ if this turned out to be unimportant. She opened the door to find Giles standing there with three teenage girls, two around Dawn's age and one a couple years older. "Giles, I love you and you're like a father to me, but this had better be good."

"The end of the world," Replied the Englishman.

"You consider that news Giles? Maybe you've been away from the hellmouth too long. That's not news, that's Wednesday."

"Ok then, an apocalypse that involves the end of the slayer line."

"Alright you have my attention. Who are they?" The blonde slayer asked as she stepped aside to let them in.

"Oh, right. This is Molly, Annabelle, and Kennedy. They are potentials…girls who may become the next slayer when Faith dies."

At this point Dawn, Tara, and Willow appeared at the bottom of the stairs as Buffy welcomes everyone. Dawn and Tara look at each other, "I guess Dawn and I will get started on breakfast…hope everyone likes bacon and eggs." Tara said, kissing Buffy on the way to the kitchen.

Kennedy sidled up next to Willow, immediately infatuated with the red headed witch. "Hi, I'm Kennedy. Do you live here with Buffy?"

"Yep, I live here, along with my best friend, that'd be Buffy, my ex-girlfriend who is Buffy's current girlfriend, that'd be Tara, and my girlfriend, that'd be Dawn."

"Ah, so you are spoken for…are you sure about that?" Kennedy asked with alluring smile and stepped closer to Willow.

"Yes, she's sure." Kennedy heard an irritated voice before a hand on her shoulder spun her around and pushed her against the wall, "It'd be in your best interest to understand that, quickly." Dawn advised with her forearm pressed across the other girls throat, pinning her to the wall, "Get what I mean Potential?" Kennedy nodded a little bit of fear and respect showing in her eyes.

"Damn B! The brats all woman sized now, and has the skills to go with it too I see," Said a familiar voice from the doorway.

Dawn's demeanor quickly changed, "Faith! It's good to see you!" She exclaimed before hugging the dark slayer, "What are you doing here? You aren't running from the cops again are you?"

"Dawn!" Buffy shouted.

"S'all good B, I can tell she's jokin with me. Anyway Queen C said you guys were gonna need my help, but that's all the info she was given. Do you have any answers G-man?" She asked turning to Giles.

"Yes…well…shall we call Xander and Anya to come over so I only have to tell this once?"

Once everyone was gathered around the Summers' family breakfast table Giles gave his explanation, "Buffy, do you recall that entity you met when we were dealing with the mayor, the one that tried to make Angel kill himself?"

"Yeah…called itself The First…or something like that."

"Yes, the First Evil. It is one of the Higher Beings. On the same level as Glorificus, but harder to kill because its form is non-corporeal, however it commands the Harbingers of Death, Bringers as Kennedy calls them, they have no sight, but their other senses are extremely heightened and they are ruled by a hive-mind. But aside from that they are appear to be rather easy to kill."

"So what books should we start with?" Asked Dawn and Willow at the same time before turning to smile at each other.

"Books? I think that's my cue to go find somewhere to train…and leave the researching to the brainy types."

Giles went on to explain that they should expect and prepare for more potentials to arrive. As well as attacks from Bringers and other servants of the First.

"Willow and I will be back later Buffy. We're gonna spend some time together before this house becomes too crowded." Dawn said as she stood from the table, taking Willow with her.

"Isn't your sister a bit young to be dating Willow?" Kennedy asked.

"Maybe so, but I trust them both. And Willow knows that anything she might do with Dawn is capable of having…shall we say severe consequences." Buffy answered the annoying potential slayer.

_So, Willow thinks she's in love with Buffy's little sister does she? Well I guess I'll just have to show Willow that I'm really what she wants._ Kennedy thought to herself as her mind began to race to makes plans to get Willow and Dawn separated.

Buffy gave the newcomers a quick tour of the house, while Tara worked out the sleeping arrangements. She put Molly and Annabelle in Willow's room. Tara smirked as she walked out of Dawns room where she had placed Kennedy's and Faith's belongings, _Now this should be interesting._ She thought as she headed back downstairs with a chuckle.

That evening after dinner Willow and Dawn sat on the couch watching TV with Faith, Molly, and Annabelle. Willow and Dawn were cuddling on the couch with Faith sitting next to them flipping through channels while Molly and Annabelle sat on the floor, talking in hushed tones. After a while Faith gave up on finding anything worth watching, "Well ladies, it's been fun, but it's late and I'm goin to bed. So later y'all." Said the dark slayer as she stood from the couch and stretched.

"I hate to say it Dawn, but I have to agree with Faith, I'm getting tired as well. I'm gonna have to say goodnight sweetie." Willow said, heading to her room after kissing Dawn goodnight.

Molly and Annabelle followed suit soon after, Dawn, however wasn't tired and stayed up for a while to try and do some research. She read through two books that only referenced the First Evil or the Harbingers of Death, but was unable to find anything new to help them. She decided after a couple hours of nothing to head for her bed. When she got to her room she saw Faith laid on the floor on a makeshift bed and heard light snoring coming from the body on her bed. _If that stuck up bitch thinks I'm gonna give up my bed she's got another thing coming._ Dawn thought before changing into a pair of shorts and tank top and climbing into her bed next to Kennedy after grabbing an extra blanket from her closet.


	7. Kennedy

**A/N:** As far as I know she still has not been given a last name so for whenever it may come up Kennedy will be known as Kennedy Prescott, other single name protagonists that have an impact on the story will probably get a last name assigned to them too.

**Kennedy**

Kennedy woke up to the feel of someone else in bed with her. She couldn't remember taking anyone to bed last night so she rolled onto her side to see who it was. Next to her on the small bed she saw two people the girl who actually owned the bed they were sleeping on and her roadblock for getting Willow, Dawn Summers. Next to Dawn was Faith, the other half of the Chosen Two, also known as the Dark Slayer. Apparently she had decided that she wanted a real bed at some point in the night. Problem was, the bed was quite small would've normally held maybe two people comfortably, if one was skinny like Dawn.

Realizing she was not going to be getting back to sleep soon Kennedy rolled out of bed, not caring if her movements woke her companions. Dawn was awakend by her jostling though Faith managed to remain in dreamland. The younger girl decided that she too would get up and get on with the day. She carefully climbed out of bed and even readjusted the covers for the still sleeping slayer. After taking care of her morning ritual she made her way downstairs and found Kennedy sitting at the island in the kitchen with a glass of water. "Good morning Kennedy." She said trying to be civil and possibly start over on better ground with the potential slayer.

"Mornin," Kennedy grumbled in reply, realizing she was being kind of bitchy and that would not help her get this girl away from her target of the redhead she continued, "Sorry, I'm not normally one for happily waking up this early." She gestured at the clock on the microwave which read five forty-nine A.M.

"Yeah I'm not usually up quite this early either. Well since we're both already up would you be willing to help me get some breakfast ready for everyone? We're gonna have to make a run to the store too to pick up some extra things. Are you up for it?" Dawn asked.

Kennedy thought for a moment, "Sure as long as we can stop somewhere to get mochas or something. And I gotta warn you I'm not much of a cook, though I can make the coffee and I'm pretty good with the chopping and dicing."

"We can stop at The Espresso Pump on the way to the store. And when we get back you can be my sous chef and handing the chopping and dicing while I do the cooking."

The two women walked out to the garage and Kennedy figured they'd be taking the Jeep so she was a bit shocked when Dawn opened the driver's door to the Audi A6, "Damn! That's your ride?" Kennedy asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, it was my present from everyone for my "sweet sixteen" I love it too, it's a great car." Dawn answered with a smile.

"You're only sixteen? I thought Buffy said you had graduated." Kennedy continued after climbing in on the passenger side.

"If you wanna be technical I'm sixteen and a half. I graduated early, took the necessary courses. Mainly so I could help my sister out in supporting the household expenses, but also partially so Willow and I could date without her getting in trouble, seeing as how she teaches at the high school." Dawn explained.

"Makes sense to me." Kennedy nodded, "So what do you do then?"

"I help Tara in running my sister's dojo. I've trained with Buffy for a while and I teach the Kempo Karate class while Tara teaches Krav Maga."

"So I guess you're pretty good then huh?" Kennedy asked seeing Dawn in a new light now after hearing that she trained with the slayer.

"Yeah the whole groups been training together for a while, Buffy teaches Kempo Karate, Tara does Muay Thai, Aikido, and Krav Maga, Xander trains us in Jiu Jitsu, and Anya leads us in Yoga. Oh and Buffy trains us with weapons. On top of that I train in magic with Willow and Tara, I'm not as powerful as Tara, but I have a couple unique talents."

"Wow, so the stories I've heard about the legendary "Scooby Gang" are true then?"

"Most of the stories are probably true, though I'm sure some are exaggerated and some are just plain wrong."

"Cool," Kennedy said and they continued talking and much to Kennedy's chagrin she was actually starting to like Dawn, though she still wanted to get to Willow. _Hmmm, maybe I can convince them to do a threeway…but Dawn's still technically underage. Dammit! Why can't things ever be simple? Looks like you'll have to think of something else Prescott._

Kennedy and Dawn stopped by the coffee shop to buy their mochas before continuing on to the local supermarket. Kennedy pushed the cart down the aisles while Dawn filled it up with things they needed to stock up on. "Oh, we should definitely stock up on Twinkies!" Kennedy insisted.

"OK, I can see that you are going to become one of Xander's favorite people." Dawn said laughing as she dropped three boxes of the snack cakes in the cart. "OK, milk, eggs, bacon, and sausage links are the only items left." She said glancing at her watch as she spoke, "Good we should still get back before anyone else gets up."

"So what's your story Kennedy, I mean you clearly know more about us than we do about you, so I'm curious have you always known you were a potential slayer?" Dawn asked as they were loading groceries into the trunk of the car.

"Well yeah, basically. My parents are well off business types from New York, and the Council found me early on and convinced my mom and dad out the things that live in the shadows. My watcher actually lived with us from the time I was old enough to start training. My original watcher Jeeves, yes that was really his name, was getting on in years when my training started and by the time I reached my mid-teens he had to retire for health reasons. The replacement they sent was a young watcher, fresh out of the factory, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah Wesley Wyndam-Pryce was like that, he was sent here after the Council fired Giles to be both Faith and Buffy's new watcher, problem was he had never faced a vamp or other demon outside of a controlled training scenario, so he was pretty incompetent, due to inexperience. Since then though he's been helping Angel in LA, I here he's quite a bad ass now."

"Jeannette was like that too, at first, but after a couple warm-up patrols she loosened up. We ended up getting really close…" Kennedy trailed off as she and Dawn settled in their seats inside the car.

Dawn saw the distressed look in the potential's eyes and placed her hand comfortingly over the olive skinned hand of the other woman, "You don't have to say anything else if you don't want to."

Kennedy smiled weakly at Dawn, "Thanks, but it's probably better to talk about it. So we were close, as in lovers. She was amazing, beautiful inside and out, always knew what to say when I was having a bad day, and was never afraid to bring me down a little when I got a bit too cocky. She kept me levelheaded, then those guys with the curved daggers came, the Bringers. Luckily my parents were out when the attack happened. We fought them off as long as we could but eventually they started to overwhelm us. Jeannette was brought down by one of those fuckers and I stood over her after that getting cut more and more. It wouldn't have been so bad if we had been armed, but just as I was about to collapse this grey haired guy comes wading through the sea of robed figures cutting them down left and right with his sword. Gotta say Giles is a lot more capable than he appears."

"I know what you mean…you saw one of the rare times he lets "Ripper" take over, You'll have to ask him if you want more of a backstory about that nickname."

"Anyway he and I finish off the Bringers and he tries to help Jeannette, but we lose her while he was patching her up. We didn't even get to bury her, I know I musta been in shock cause next thing we're running from my parents mansion as it's burning to the ground. I'm still upset that her body had to be left in there, but I know she woulda wanted me to use every opportunity I had to get away. After that Giles, Molly, Annabelle and I made our way out here. We stopped twice to try and meet up with two more potentials, but were too late in one case and the other, Vi I think had actually been warned in time by the Devon coven and got out, but her watcher died, if she made it she should show up any day."

"I have to ask…and I hate to ask something like this, but are you gonna be a problem for me and Willow?"

Kennedy was silent for a while, then sighed before answering, "At first I was determined to split you two up so I could work my way in with her, then I agreed to hang out with you this morning and got to know you a bit. I hadn't thought too much on it since yesterday aside from just a minute ago thinking maybe we could do a ménage a trios or something. At this point I'd have to say that I decided I like you too much to try and ruin your relationship, I'm probably still gonna hit on her a bit, maybe you too, but it won't be with the same goal in mind." She said honestly meaning everything word.

"Cool, we should all get along great then, we're kinda used to the incessant flirting from Faith so we should adjust alright." Dawn said as she parked her car in the garage.

Dawn and Kennedy spent the better part of the next hour getting breakfast ready for everyone. Kennedy sliced and diced the vegetables and brewed the coffee while Dawn did the actual cooking. They passed the time talking and joking with one another and when Buffy, Tara, Willow, Faith, and the other two potentials finally made their way downstairs to the kitchen they were somewhat stunned by Kennedy and Dawn's amicable attitudes toward each other. Faith and the other potentials were the first to recover and dive into the delicious morning meal awaiting them. "Are you guys feeling OK?" Buffy and Willow asked while Tara smirked at the two girls who had obviously become fast friends.

"Yeah Buff, we're good." Dawn replied as she set a plate in front of her red haired girlfriend.

At that moment Giles walked through the front door, "Sorry I left in the middle of the night, but the coven called me a told me there was a potential in a nearby town…so I went and retrieved her. Everyone this is Vi…Vi this is Buffy, Faith, Dawn, Willow, Tara, Molly, Annabelle, and Kennedy." Giles gave the introductions.

Vi, was a little younger than Kennedy and had red hair and big blue-green eyes, she wore a multi-colored, horizontal-striped t-shirt and a matching knit cap and red slacks, she gave a slightly nervous wave, "Hi everybody."

Faith simply nodded in response while the others gave their polite responses. Kennedy however had been rendered speechless when she saw the new girl arrive. All thoughts she had entertained of Willow or Dawn were banished from her mind along with all other forms of though, _Don't just stand there like an idiot. Introduce yourself and say something cool…and quit staring at her!_ Kennedy mentally berated herself, "Hey…" she managed to squeak out, earning her a smile from the red headed potential. _Hey? That's what you go with Prescott? Hey? And could you have sounded any more like a loser saying it? I highly doubt it. OK just play it cool, don't acknowledge your slip and maybe everyone else will ignore it too. And if that doesn't work, I've heard there are a lot of caves you can run off to and hide in around here…_


	8. Conversations With Dead People

**Conversations With Dead People**

A few days later Buffy had given the potentials the night off and they were out at the Bronze with Faith. Buffy decided to do a late patrol and Willow was planning on spending most of the night at the UC Sunnydale library studying. When Dawn came home she found a note from Buffy along with twenty dollars. The note explained where everyone was and that the money was for food, but **NOT** pizza.

Later on Dawn was in the kitchen eating a slice of pizza and singing "Anchovies, anchovies, you're so delicious, I love you more, than all the other fishes!"

She decided to take her pizza up to Buffy's room where she began going through her sisters clothes. When she was putting one of Buffy's white shirts back she accidently got pizza sauce on it. Dawn was worried for a moment then shrugged it off, "She'll think its blood." She reasoned.

The mystical Key decided to head back downstairs and after finishing her pizza started swinging around one of the various battle axes, fighting of invisible hordes of demons, "Taste my blade spawn of evil!" She cried as she brought the axe down, accidently breaking an end table.

Moving on from the axe she loaded a crossbow and began hunting "vampires", but ended up only slaying the drywall with the crossbow bolt. She grimaced on seeing the hole she had made and moved a plastic plant around the corner to hide it. The youngest Summers went back into the kitchen where she started dancing to mariachi music blaring from the radio, having decided to give up on playing with the weapons. As she was making herself a smore she heard a thump from somewhere in the house, when she heard nothing else after listening for a moment she shrugged it off as natural house noise, or maybe even her own paranoia.

She went and sat on the living room floor talking on the phone to Kit while watching a black and white movie when she heard the noise again. Dawn muted the TV and told her friend what she was hearing as she went off to investigate the sound, she was telling Kit that she couldn't tell if it was someone or something knocking or just a tree branch hitting the house when suddenly the front door flew open and she was nearly knocked over by a powerful wind. She was disconnected from her friend as she struggled to get the door shut and as soon as she did the television unmuted itself. Dawn shut-off the phone and tossed it in a chair before trying to turn off the TV, but none of the buttons worked. She reached behind the set and unplugged the power cord, but the TV went on unaffected. The young woman stared at the cord hanging from her hand before looking around the room, unsure what to do and becoming a bit worried.

She turned in place as all the stereos in the house began playing her mariachi music at full volume. Dawn was getting seriously scared at this point and fought to not let herself start crying. She grabbed the battle axe and smashed in the TV screen then began moving from stereo to stereo. She walked into the kitchen to take care of the last of the radios when she noticed that the microwave was running and without anything in it the machine began producing a lot of smoke, "Oh God," she muttered knowing that the microwave running could be a very bad thing. As she was about to smash it with the axe the thing exploded and rained glass all over the floor.

The teen ran backwards to avoid the shrapnel and hit the wall next to the back door hard, just then the radio crackled and Joyce's voice came over the speakers calling to Dawn. "Mom?" Dawn said in a soft emotion filled voice.

The scared girl went back into the living room and bandaged her feet which had surprisingly only taken a little bit of the glass on the floor, she was frantically trying to get through to Buffy on her cellphone, but the slayer was not answering, "Come on Buffy pick up! I don't know what to do!" She shouted into the phone nearly in tears at this point.

She gave up on calling her sister and picked up the radio and began talking to the now silent electronic device, "Do it again, I heard you!" She then slowly turned her head thinking there was something behind her, but by the time the couch came into her field of vision, the image of Joyce laying as she had been when Buffy found her dead was gone. Suddenly the lights went out and the house was filled with the sounds of objects being moved and when the house was illuminated once again the weapons chest was turned up on its side and the chairs were all stacked like in the movie Poltergeist. There was writing on the wall in what looked like blood, the message read _Mother's milk is red today._ And there was a bloody handprint next to the strange note. The lights flashed again and everything was back as it was supposed to be.

The knocking sound was back now, louder than before, "Why are you doing this?!" Cried the distraught girl. All the growing up that she had done in the last year was thrown out the window as she huddled on the floor with her knees drawn to her chest screaming for whatever was scaring her to stop.

Eventually she discovered that whatever was making the noise was trying to talk to her. And would knock once for yes and twice for no to questions she asked, "Mom is it you?"

One knock and Dawn started to smile.

"Are you alone?"

Two knocks her smile faltered.

"Are you OK?"

Two knocks and her face fell once again worried and a little angry. She started hearing other noises then, the sounds of something in the house with her. The lights were out again and had been since her short conversation with what she thought was her mother. "I hear you." Dawn said through clenched teeth, "I hear you breathing. Are you hurting my mother? Are you keeping her from me?"

Lightning flashed and she saw the image of Joyce with clouded eyes laying on the couch, Dawn tried walking over to her, but was thrown back by and unseen force. Lightning flashed again and she saw a demon fighting with her mother, she tried to reach them and was once again knocked back this time hitting the wall on the other side of the room. Her face was scratched and her mouth was bleeding. Dawn grabbed a spell book and ingredients which she quickly mixed using a mortar and pestle. She sprinkled a handful of the powder she mixed around the room then began reciting the exorcism ritual continuing to toss the crushed herbs, "I cast you from this place, it is your poison and your bane!" The creature scratched her face again, but she continued, "It is the skin that is cut from your flesh!" A powerful wind began swirling around the living room turning the pages of the books she had been using and blowing out the candles she had lit. The windows were blown in making her duck covering her face to protect herself from the glass.

Dawn was undeterred and continued the ritual rising to her feet, "I cast you out with the prayer of every god that walks the earth and crawls beneath!" The demon threw her against the wall, "I cast you out with the strength of those who love me! I cast you out with the strength I have inside me!" She rose to her feet again picking up the dish of crushed herbs, "And I cast you out into the void! That's right, die you bastard!"

The young woman collapsed to the floor, spent both emotionally and physically. A bright glow filled the room emanating from Joyce. Joyce told Dawn that things were coming and that she loved both her and Buffy, but that when things were bad Buffy would not be there for her and that when things get bad Buffy will be against her. Then Joyce disappeared leaving Dawn in a worse state than she had been.

Willow came home a while later to find Dawn still in the spot she had collapsed to on the floor. "Dawnie baby what happened?"

"I talked to mom…she said something real bad was coming and that Buffy would leave me."

"Hey sweetie don't believe what was said…it wasn't Joyce, it was the big bad…the one we knew was coming. It talked to me too, as my old friend Jesse, it tried to convince me that I would fall back into the black magic and hurt all of you guys and told me the only way to avoid it was if I killed myself. It's trying to get to us."

"If it's trying to get to us like that then we must scare it, but if The First is so powerful why would it bother?"

"Maybe it's not as strong as everyone claims, or maybe all of us are a lot stronger than we realize. Did you do a spell Dawn? Cause I can feel your power in here."

"Yeah, I tried to do an exorcism, but I guess it didn't work."

"No I think it did work, I'd have to ask Tara to be sure, but there must have been something else here too. And you're hurt, The First is non-corporeal so something else hurt you and did all this." Willow said holding Dawn's face and gently examining the scratches, "Did you dress any of these wounds?"

"No, why."

"It must be due to the blood you share with Buffy then…cause these scratches are deep, but they've already stopped bleeding. We should probably get you a glass of water to rinse the blood out of your mouth so I can check that too." The two of them made their way upstairs to the bathroom where dawn cleaned her face and removed the bandages from her feet, which were now mostly healed.

Dawn leaned in and kissed her red haired girlfriend, "Thanks Willow."

"Mmmm…thanks for what?"

"For calming me down a minute ago, and for just being you."

"Well if it gets me Dawnie kisses then I'll be me all the time."

"You know you can be such a goofball sometimes." Dawn said with a laugh.

Once everyone was back they recapped on their night and it turned out that all the Scoobies and Faith had gotten a visit from The First. Xander, like Willow had seen Jesse, Buffy had talked to Cassie Newton, a girl she saved from being sacrificed by a cult, but a few minutes later died from heart failure. Faith had seen Deputy Mayor Allan Finch and Professor Lester Worth.

At that moment Vi, Annabelle, and Molly burst through the door. All three were out of breath, but Vi was in a panic, "Kennedy…monster…super strong…told us to run." She said between gasps.

"OK Xander, Dawn, Tara, and Faith, you guys stay her with the girls. Willow come with me and Vi, take me back to her." Buffy said, knowing the redheaded potential slayer would insist on going anyway.

Buffy, Willow, and Vi arrived in time to see the creature standing over the still form of Kennedy, "No!" Vi screamed, worried that Kennedy was dead.

Buffy rushed the thing and knocked away from the fallen potential. Vi rushed over to Kennedy and checked that she was breathing and had a pulse, "She's alive!" Vi said relieved.

Buffy was having a hard time with the creature, she sensed it was a vampire, but it was much faster and stronger than Spike let alone a new riser, "Willow, Vi! Get Kennedy back to the house and Willow use your telepathy to send Faith, I'm gonna need backup to finish this thing." Buffy ordered.

"She's on her way." Willow informed Buffy as she and Vi took off for the house with Kennedy supported between them.

Faith passed Willow and Vi on her way to help Buffy and when she arrived the vampire type creature did not like the way the cards were beginning to fall so he took off. "What the fuck was that thing B? It was setting off my vamp radar, but it didn't look right or nuthin."

"I dunno what it was Faith, it musta been some sort of vamp cause I sensed it too. Maybe it was an older one, cause it looked a lot like the Master did. It was fast and strong and my stake couldn't reach its heart, like it had super dense muscle and an extra-large sternum. Anyway let's get back to the house and figure it out from there."

When the slayers walked in the house everyone was there either in the kitchen or living room. Vi was sitting on the couch with the bandaged and still out of it Kennedy laying with her head in Vi's lap. Dawn brought Vi a glass of water and a couple pain pills for when Kennedy woke up. Vi took the glass and pills, giving Dawn a quick smile, but never stopped brushing her fingers through Kennedy's long dark hair.

Buffy took in the sites before her as Xander, Spike, and Giles hung sheets of plywood over the broken windows and Willow and Dawn had Molly and Annabelle helping them clean up the broken glass and other debris. "OK guys let's all get this place cleaned up and we'll regroup and talk in the morning after we've all gotten some sleep. Yes Vi you can stay where you are with Kennedy." Buffy said adding the last part with a glance at the two potentials, causing Vi to blush.

"Hey B, you mind if I make a call to LA in the morning?" Faith asked.

"Yes, you can call Fred in the morning Faith." Buffy answered playfully nudging the dark slayer with her elbow.

By this time everyone had realized that the old Faith truly was no more and if you watched closely you could see a side of her that she rarely let show. It usually only came out when she was talking to or about Fred, or Winifred Burkle as she was legally known, the physicist that worked with Angel, Gunn, Wesley, and Cordelia in LA. She had gotten to Faith in a way the slayer had thought no one ever would, even with her time in prison helping her settle down Fred had done more to help Faith than anyone thought possible. Faith had told the Scooby gang that Fred had brought her down off the ledge, twice literally, and though she would never trade it for anything, Faith was still a bit embarrassed when her softer side shown through due to her relationship with Fred.

With everyone aside from Vi and Kennedy working the house was soon back to working order and right before everyone went to bed Kennedy finally woke up. Vi refused to let her move from the couch yet though and the two of them ended up falling asleep curled up together.


	9. Potential

**Potential**

A couple weeks later a few more potentials had arrived and Buffy and Spike were training the potentials in one of the grave yards. Vi and Rona were acting as the hunters while Annabelle, Kennedy, and Chao An observed and took notes. In a matter of just a few seconds Spike popped up and knocked Rona down and captured Vi. The red haired potential screamed as she felt Spike's fangs brush against her neck, "OK, these two are dead. Why?" Spike asked while changing out of his demon face.

Rona made a quip about her being black and being the first one taken out. Then went on to complain about not having the right set of skills to take on a vampire and that it was an unfair fight. "Vi, you think I care if it's a fair fight?" asked the blond vampire.

"No…No sir. You don't play by the rules and I've learned a valuable lesson of some sort…" Vi answered as Spike let her go.

"You are right Rona, about not having slayer strength and speed, but even as potentials you have skills that normal humans don't." Buffy started her pep talk.

"But not like you do." Annabelle pointed out.

"No not like me or Faith, but each of you has the _potential_ to have that power given to you…when Faith dies."

"Just Faith? What about you Buffy?" Asked Kennedy.

"Well I've already died. The first time Kendra was called, then when she died Faith. The second time I died no one was called, because technically the line now runs through her…of the Chosen Two she is technically the one. Slightly more important than me in that regard."

"Oh come on B, you're makin me blush. I aint _that_ important. Are you guys about done here? Cause I got my team ready for our training with Mr. Bloody." Faith asked as she walked up with the four newest potentials, all of whom had been put through some amount of watcher training.

"Not quite finished yet, have your girls pull up a tombstone, that way we only have to give this speech once. As I was saying the slayer line now runs through Faith one of you, or maybe even a potential who hasn't arrived yet would then be called. Until then you all have to learn to use the instincts you naturally have. Rona, what were your instincts telling you to do just now?"

"Block his attack, keep him off balance…gain the…advantage." Answered the dark skinned potential.

"No they didn't." Buffy deadpanned.

"They said run."

"Vi?"

"They told me to run…their kinda still telling me to run." Answered the redhead.

"Follow your instincts, don't fight on his terms. Make the fight yours. If you instincts tell you to run, run. Don't second guess yourself…follow that advice and you up your chances of staying alive. Anything to add Faith?"

"Nothing here B, you got it all I think."

"Ok girls, let's head back and let Faith and her group train. Since Vi and Rona took part in our demonstration, Kennedy you guard the rear and Chao An…" She said switching to rough Cantonese which she had been learning in order to give the Chinese potential orders, "Nǐ ná diǎn. (You take point)"

"Sure thing." Kennedy replied.

"Wǒ míngbáile, I…under…understand." Answered Chao An.

Later on when everyone was back at the house, or slayer central as Xander and their newest recruit Andrew called it. Buffy and Faith started a meeting with everyone present. Anya's demon contacts had informed them that The First was temporarily in remission, which had the Scoobies thinking that he had hoped that the uber-vamp, or Turok Han as Dawn and Anya had discovered, would have done more damage to them.

"What does that mean for us?" Kennedy asked.

"We don't really know, for now all we can really do is keep training and not let our guard down. Just because its hiding doesn't mean we've won. I think that's all we have for this meeting so I guess you guys are off for the rest of the night, so get something to eat, study up on demons, and do your own training, but don't forget to rest, we're gonna ramp up the training starting tomorrow." Buffy said dismissing the potentials.

After the meeting Dawn pulled her sister aside, "Buffy, I think it's time to close down the dojo. No one showed up for classes at all so far this week. So do you want me and Tara to go ahead and shut it down?"

Buffy sighed and ran her hand through her hair, "Yeah," She answered motioning for Tara to join them.

Tara noticed right away that Buffy was tense without having to read her aura and so comfortingly wrapped her arm around her slayer girlfriend. Buffy closed her eyes and leaned against the blonde witch's body. "I just told Dawn that you guys could go ahead and close the dojo. And if it's not too much trouble, try and bring most of the weapons back here, I have a feeling we're gonna need them."

"No problem Buff. And the principal asked if I would act as a TA in a class, it would count as college credit. Plus he said it wouldn't hurt to have another demon fighter on campus."

"That sounds like a good idea Dawnie." Said Tara, "I'll probably stay here and help Faith watch the potentials once we get the dojo taken care of."

"Alright, now that we've got all that settled…sorry to do this to you Buffy, but it's only cause I care…Tara, I haven't seen her eat anything all day, and on top of that I don't think she's really been sleeping very much." Dawn flinched from Buffy's glare, but refused to back down.

Tara however was staring at the slayer next to her, not glaring or showing any other emotion, just staring at her, "Thanks for throwin me to the wolves Dawnie…I'll remember this. Tara, honey, I did so eat…I had a Gatorade and a protein bar for lunch." Buffy tried to explain.

Tara raised an eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest. After a few moments of staring at one another Buffy lowered her eyes in defeat, Tara's lips turned up into a smirk, "To the kitchen slayer…now." She ordered pointing, Buffy turned and made her way to the kitchen receiving a swat to her backside from her witch.

Dawn had left to her and Willow's room, which they shared with Chao An. Kennedy and Faith now shared Dawn's old room with Rona and Vi. Buffy and Tara had Annabelle and two other potentials with them. When Dawn arrived in the doorway she saw Willow gathering ingredients for a spell while Chao An watched curiously. "Whatchya doin babe?" Asked the mystical Key.

Willow looked up and gave her girlfriend a smile, "The seers at the coven said there was a potential here in Sunnydale, but due to all the hellmouthy interference they couldn't pinpoint her location. So I'm doing a locator spell."

"Cool." Dawn said before translating for Chao An who nodded her understanding before readying herself for bed.

Dawn watched while Willow performed the spell, but instead of forming a cloud to lead them to the potential in town there was a bright flash of light. When the smoke cleared and Dawn could see clearly she saw the red haired witch sitting on the floor crying. Dawn quickly knelt down next to her and wrapped her girlfriend in a tight embrace. Willow laid her head on Dawn's shoulder, "Why can't I do it on my own Dawn? It's so hard to fight the draw of the dark magic. I left to Devon so I could get over it, but I'm not strong enough to fight it…I'm back to where I was before I met Tara. My spells fizzle out and my potions turn out soup."

Dawn pulled back slightly, cupping Willow's face in her hands and brushing the tears away with her thumbs, "Don't think like that baby. You're so strong and you don't even realize. Yes you are constantly fighting the draw of the dark magic, but it never wins over you. Sure your spells don't turn out right all the time, but I'm so proud that you haven't given up. I will always be here to help you Willow, even if you can never do a successful spell without help again it will never make me think any less of you. Don't forget that you maintain that telepathic link with the coven for us twenty-four/seven, I can't imagine the amount of power and focus that takes. And the amount of research you do around here…even without magic you do more than your fair share. Now why don't you get some sleep? I can tell you're tired." Dawn said before helping Willow up and into their bed.

"But girl…in danger…Bringers." Willow protested groggily.

"If you lay down I'll go talk to Tara and she and I will try to locate her OK?"

Willow nodded as Dawn brought the quilt up to cover her, the red head's eyes began to flutter closed. Dawn leaned down and gently kissed Willow goodnight. "Sleep well my love." She whispered before leaving the room.

As she walked down the hall she saw Tara and Buffy going into their room and decided not to bother them. She peeked her head into her old room and talked to Faith. "Yo, F. There's a potential somewhere in town and I'm gonna do a spell to locate her. Buffy really needs rest bad and you should probably get some sleep too. I'm gonna take Spike with me so you and the potentials guard the house til we get back."

"You sure you and Mr. Fangs can handle it?" Faith asked and got a nod in answer, "Alright, but if you get into any trouble call me and I'll be there in a flash."

"Will do Faith."

Dawn went to the basement and filled Spike in on the plan and then performed a spell that conjured a small green ball of energy, Take me to the potential slayer in this town that is not present in this house." Dawn commanded and the light darted out of the house at a pace that she and the souled vampire easily followed.

The tracker spell lead them to Sunnydale High School, "Of course," Dawn muttered, "Everything just has to revolve around the damned hellmouth!"

"Course it does Lil Bit. Otherwise where's the fun."

Dawn gave her friend a half-hearted glare before they made their way inside the building. There moved through the halls silently, but quickly. When they got to the second floor they heard a banging sound followed by a scream and more banging. The two of them took off in a sprint with Spike quickly gaining the lead, both of them forgetting about the light they were supposed to be following. They saw a vamp dressed in all black trying to break through a reinforced classroom door, they could also just make out the sound of someone crying inside the classroom. Spike shoulder checked the pre-occupied vamp and sent him sprawling down the hall. Dawn asked the person in the classroom, who turned out to be her friend Amanda, if she was alright.

"Yeah," Amanda answered in a shaky voice, "I'm not hurt, just scared."

Dawn had Amanda open the door and after checking to make doubly sure that she was okay noticed that the ball of light they had been following had landed on Amanda's shoulder, "Spike, looks like two birds with one stone today."

The other vampire took off and Spike turned around, "Finally some good news!" He said just as a Bringer's knife come through is chest causing Amanda to scream again.

The demon pulled it's knife back out and Dawn took out a pair of wooden tonfa that she carried with the ends lathed to a point, "Amanda I don't care whether you believe me completely or not, but I know you, just like everyone else in this town, aren't completely oblivious to the strange things that happen. The thing that was after you earlier was a vampire. Spike is a vampire too, but he has a soul so he's cool. These things are Harbingers of Death, or Bringers." She explained as she took on two of the demons while Spike faced off against three others, keeping themselves between Amanda and the Bringers. "I'll explain more later, for now just trust me that Spike and I will keep you safe. OK?"

"OK." Amanda incredulously although she could not discount all of what Dawn had just said.

Dawn switched her focus fully on the Bringers in front of her and soon out maneuvered one sending the sharp end of one tonfa through its chest. She then knocked the dead Bringer into his comrade and used that distraction to stab her still living opponent through his eye-socket. Dawn picked up one of the Bringer's curved knives and handed it to Amanda, she then turned to Spike who was finishing off his fifth opponent. She looked past him and saw another group coming towards them. "This ways clear Spike, let's go! Amanda stay between us."

While they ran down the hall Spike grabbed a mop and broke the mop head of giving the handle to Amanda, "In case that vamp didn't actually run away."

Amanda took the sharp ended staff and felt a strange familiarity with it, like it was something she had trained and practiced with regularly. They got to the stairwell and saw a group of Bringers coming together on the ground floor and at the far end of the hallway was the group they were running from as well as the vamp from earlier. Dawn took the knife from Amanda so she only had the mop handle and said firmly yet slowly enough so that her friends adrenaline fueled brain could follow, "Amanda, listen to me cause this has to be quick. Just like there are vampires in the world there are special people who fight them…"

"Like you?" Amanda asked.

"No not like me better, faster, stronger, and at times smarter, there are two in the world right now. My sister is one of them, the familiarity you're feeling with this improvised weapon," She said noticing how Amanda was holding the mop handle like it was a quarterstaff, "It's an indication that you have the potential to be one of those special people, you're already stronger and faster than a normal human your age and build. Spike and I will have your back, but as of now this is your fight."

Amanda had no time to protest as the first of the Bringers got to them and she had to dodge. It sailed past her and met its end on Dawn's knife, she picked up the knife from the now dead Bringer and was now duel wielding the curved blades as Amanda sidestepped the next Harbinger and hit it in the back with her staff. Dawn sliced both knives across the demon's throat simultaneously and spared a glance at Spike who was fighting the Bringers on the stairs…along with Buffy and Xander. Amanda blocked a punch from the vampire then struck it in the head quickly and followed up with a hit to its body. She then delivered a kick to the vamp's ribs and dodged his counter-kick and pushed him against the wall before sending the sharp end of the improvised staff through his heart turning him to dust. Had lost her blades to one Bringer and quickly grabbed the last one alive by the neck and put him in an expert rear naked choke hold, which she'd learned from Xander's jiu jitsu training, and held on until he ceased moving. Then just to make sure he was dead Buffy drove a knife into his chest.

Amanda stood there for a moment looking around before finally bursting out, "Does somebody wanna explain to me just what the FUCK is going on!?"

"I'll explain everything, but first let's get outta here. Xander, spike take care of the bodies. Dawn..." She trailed off with a sigh, "I know you're gonna say that you were careful, that you're better trained than any of the potentials and have more field experience, you're probably also gonna point out you brought Spike as back-up and told Faith where you were going and even had your cellphone ready to speed dial her if you needed help right?"

"Yeah that's about everything…" Dawn said looking at the ground waiting for Buffy to lecture her for being irresponsible.

"Good job." Buffy said surprising all except Amanda who had no clue what to expect, "Yes you heard right, I wish you had taken more back-up with you, but aside from that I couldn't have asked for you to have planned your mission better. In fact if you think you can handle it on top of the research and you Wicca training I would like to make a third team with you in charge since you've proven yourself time and again."

"Wow…um I think I can work out a schedule with Willow and Tara for my magic training. As far as the research is concerned we're kinda at a standstill right now anyway. So yeah I'll do it."

"Cool well let's get back to the house, oh and Dawn just cause I didn't tear into you doesn't mean you're off the hook yet, there's a certain red head who wasn't too happy you left with just Spike as back-up. Lucky for you she was too tired to come along herself."


	10. Chosen

**Chosen**

The next couple months went by fairly quickly. The First had reappeared and began working through his vessel, an evil priest named Caleb. Buffy and the gang discovered an ancient weapon created specifically for the upcoming battle. A weapon created from the essence of the slayer. The potentials had kept on with their training while the core Scooby Gang began to formulate their plans for the fight.

The citizens of the town (human and demon alike) had evacuated long ago. The potentials and all the other fighters for good arrived at what remained of Sunnydale High at noon one day in the middle of June. The potentials were sent to secure the entrance to the hellmouth while the core gang had a final meeting near where Willow and Tara were going to do their spell.

Joining the ranks of the fighters over the weeks gone by had been several slayers and former Trio member Andrew Wells, whose brother had tried to ruin prom with hellhounds. The biggest surprise and most recent addition to their ranks was Lindsey McDonald, former evil lawyer. Angel advised them to let him stay, but to watch him carefully.

Andrew, the weakest fighter, was paired up with Anya, the most experienced in swordplay. The ex-demon had bested all-comers, Buffy included, in terms of skill with all sword types. The only one who had come close to beating her was Giles and Buffy only bested her because of her slayer strength. They went to guard the north hall, one of three entrances to the sewers.

Giles and Lindsey who was well skilled in swordplay and hand to hand combat and due to contacts he gained at Wolfram&Hart, the evil law office in LA, he had mystical tattoos that gave him superhuman strength equal to that of a vampire Angel's age. The two of them took the lounge where most of the Turok-Han were expected to go.

Which left Xander and Dawn with the atrium. Andrew and Anya left to get ready as did Lindsey. Dawn, carrying a duffel bag with two swords, several stakes and an axe, "I'm gonna go check out the atrium."

"Wait!" Both Willow and Buffy quickly said.

Dawn turned back to them, "No, cause anything you say is gonna sound like "goodbye", just go do your jobs and we can talk later." She said giving them both a smile, kissing Willow before continuing to her post."

Tara gave Buffy a kiss before going to set up for the spell in the principal's office which was right above the hellmouth seal. All that remained were the original four Scooby members, "So, what do you guys wanna do tomorrow?" Buffy asked.

"Nothing strenuous." Willow said.

"Well mini-golf is always the first thing that comes to mind." Xander offered.

"I think we can do better than that." Giles said.

"I was thinking about shopping, as per usual." Buffy added.

"Oh! There's an Arden B in the new mall!" Willow said excitedly.

"I could use a few items." Xander agreed.

"Well, now aren't we going to discuss this? Save the world, go to the mall?" Giles asked exasperated.

"I'm having a wicked shoe craving." Buffy continued ignoring Giles.

"Aren't you on the patch?" Xander asked.

"Those never work." Willow answered.

"Here I am, invisible to the eye…" Giles dramatized.

"See, I need a new look. It's the whole eye-patch thing." Xander said as the three of them walked away from Giles.

"Oh, you could go with full black secret agent look." Buffy suggested.

"Or the puffy shirt, pirate slash…" Willow offered.

"The earth is definitely doomed." Giles mocked.

Willow split off from her high school friends and joined Tara, ready to do the spell. Buffy went to the basement where Faith and the potentials were waiting to open the seal. Xander continued on to where Dawn was waiting for him in the atrium. "Hey Dawnster! You ready to get our slayage on?" He asked bringing a smile to the teen's face.

"Let's do this thing and get it over with quick. Cause I'm getting a wicked shoe craving." Dawn answered tossing Xander one of the swords.

Xander smiled, noting how similar the two sisters were in certain areas. "OK Dawn, there're two doorways here." He said indicating the north and south entrances, "I'll stand on the east half of the room and you take the west. Let's see those Shaka-khan things try and get past us."

Dawn nodded her agreement still smiling at the carpenter's quirkiness. She opened her link to the powers that be and was granted a view of their whole "battlefield". She saw Buffy, Faith and the potentials climbing down a hole in the basement, **They're inside.** She said to the others through the telepathic link set up by her, Tara, and Willow. **The Turok-Han have spotted them. Buffy Faith and Spike are still the front line, the potentials are doing what they can…Willow and Tara finished the spell!** She shouted through the link, almost passing out in awe of the sheer power coming from the two witches. A few minutes later she gave an update, **One of the potentials was just killed, it was Justine,** who was one of the more recent additions, **The potentials are being called! The spell worked! There're still a lot of Turok-Han though. Five of them coming to you Giles and Lindsey. Everyone watch your backs, Bringers are here too.** After that Dawn's updates were much more infrequent. She would announce whenever a potential died and give warnings to the other groups.

Their battle was nearing it's conclusion when she felt something was wrong. She checked the other teams of two first, **Andrew! Group of Bringers behind Anya! Take 'em on now!** She saw the nerdy young man stop the Bringer's blade with his hand just as it connected with Anya's shoulder. They dealt with the Bringers quickly, but Dawn still felt uneasy. **Buffy's hurt! **She shouted surprised, **She's still alive…but she's down, surrounded by the other slayers. Faith has the scythe now. Amanda, Kennedy, Chao An, Vi, Annabelle, and Rona are all that's left of the others. Dammit! They just killed Rona! Buffy's back up now…something's happening with Spike and the amulet Angel gave us…everyone out NOW! Load up on the bus out front!**

They all made it onto the bus except Buffy and Spike, who would have been burned up anyway. Dawn had to forcibly hold Tara on the bus so that Giles could drive them out of the rapidly collapsing town. Willow spotted Buffy leaping from rooftop to rooftop and finally jumping and landing on top of the bus as they passed the last few buildings. When they were a safe distance away Giles stopped the bus and they all piled out, aside from Annabelle who was wounded and Vi who was taking care of her. The new crater of Sunnydale stopped, ironically at the city limit/population sign, they all stood there and looked on silently.

"Spike…?" Dawn asked.

"Dead." Buffy said after a short pause, "The amulet took the sunlight and used spike as a giant mirror ball it killed all the Turok-Han and I believe closed the hellmouth…he's a hero."

"Looks like the hellmouth is officially closed for business." Faith stated.

"There is another one in Cleveland…not to spoil the moment." Giles said

"We saved the world. Again." Xander added.

"We changed the world. I can feel them, Buffy. All over. Slayers are awakening everywhere." Willow said, awed at the feeling.

"We'll have to find them." Dawn said wrapping her arm around the redhead.

"We will." Willow said laying her head on her girlfriend's shoulder.

"Yes, because the mall was actually in Sunnydale, so there's no hope of going there tomorrow." Giles joked.

"We destroyed the mall? I fought on the wrong side!" Dawn whined sarcastically

"All those shops gone. The Gap, Starbucks, Toys "R" Us. Who will remember all those landmarks unless we tell the world about them?" Xander said in an over-dramatic voice.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us." Giles pointed out.

"Can I push him in?" Faith asked.

"You've got my vote." Willow agreed.

"I just want to sleep…for like a week." Faith added.

"I guess we all could, if we wanted to." Dawn aquiesed.

"Yeah. The First is scrunched, so... what do you think we should do, Buffy?" Willow asked

Yeah, B we aint the only chosen anymore. Just gotta live like a person. How's that feel?"

"Yeah, Buffy. What are we gonna do now?" Dawn asked.

Buffy just looked silently at the crater for a while with a soft smile while Tara leaned lightly against her, "First let's get back on the bus and get the wounded to a hospital. Then I guess we go visit Angel and his team until we can figure something out. Giles I need you to use whatever contacts you have left to cordone off that crater, call in as many favors as you need to, we'll get Riley and his team on it too. If we need to bring in a nearby coven as well. I don't wanna let anyone in there until we've checked it out."

**The End…For Now**

**A/N:** This is the end of this story. I have a couple ideas for a sequel, but it'll take some time. (The sequel will put more focus on Willow and Dawn's relationship). I it seemed like I kinda rushed this story…well I guess I did, this is meant to be more of a prequel. I have seen a lot of season seven rewrites and didn't necessarily wanna compete with them. Thank you to those who followed my story so far. I'll try to get the sequel up quickly.


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